Hazel
by mediahybrid117
Summary: There's a new student that turns out to be a halfa with so many skeletons in the closet, it puts Danny to shame. This fic is dark. Blood, death, drugs, self-infliction at some point... yeah- I'm rating this M. Just to be safe. I'm pretty sure drugs and stuff shouldn't be under the category of 'T', but then again, you'd be surprised nowadays.
1. Chapter 1

**WARNING- READ THIS PART FIRST: Just saying guys- this fic is pretty dark. There's drugs, overdose on said drugs, suicidal references, death probably, this kid is pretty f***ed up and miserable. Danny and his friends play a big part of this, but the OC is the main character in this. If you don't like any of this, then the answer is simple: don't read it. Go read something else and don't leave a review complaining about how screwed up the story is. Those of you who are reading this because you're still interested- thank you and enjoy.**

"Class, we have a new student today." The teacher announced, this was probably the third or fourth school I been moved to within the last several months. "This is Hazel Richards." I stared at the group of kids that either looked at me in high interest, or extreme disgust. It wasn't like I wasn't used to either look. The guys would look me over, thinking that I'm hot, then grow disappointed that I don't have an boobs, or the girls would look me over and think 'oh great, _she's_ gonna be one of _those_ girls.'

Fuck them.

I got to hit them anyway for being a bitch to me because they thought I was gonna take 'their man' from them. It wasn't even my fault that Dad moved me all over the place because he can't keep his nose out of the crap that's illegal. Literally. I've seen so many drug busts that as soon as Dad comes home with that panicked look and that powdery crap all over his face, I grab my shit and run.

"Hazel is going to be joining us for the rest of the year."

"I'd give it the semester." I corrected him. That was probably what it really going to be.

"O-okay…" the teacher gave me a strange look, "Well, Hazel, why don't you sit down beside…" he looked around the class. "Daniel over there. Mr. Fenton, why don't you raise your hand."

I watched a kid at the back of the class raise his hand. He had black hair and blue eyes and he had this look about him- no… this _aura_ about him that told me that he got into a lot of trouble. I walked to the back of the class and sat beside him.

"Everyone, I want you all to make Hazel feel welcome." The teacher instructed.

A girl that sat in front of Daniel rose her hand, "Danny, Tucker and I will show her around." She volunteered. The black kid beside her was asleep, but as soon as he heard his name, he sat straight up, "Yes?"

I sighed and sat back, "And it starts…" I mumbled. Here's the thing. I'm skinny, I've got the curves, the long hair, long eyelashes, and even a smooth voice. But I am _not_ a girl. Thank you, Goth Chick, for your cooperation.

"Uh- thank you Sam. I'm sure _he'll_ greatly appreciate that."

I 'greatly' appreciated the fact that this teacher made her feel like an ass by pretty much telling her that I'm a guy. She had done a double-take. I gave her a smirk that told her that he was right.

"Alright, guys get out your textbooks and flip over to page two-thirty-two. Hazel, you can pair up with Sam, if you'd like."

I nodded and glanced over at Sam- who seemed absolutely humiliated that she thought I was a girl. It's a common mistake though. I inched a little closer to her and Danny, but then I got this weird, feeling on the back of my neck, as though my hair was standing on end.

Class seemed great and all, but I already knew that 'Danny' kid didn't like me. I made my way through the cafeteria and ignored looks from everyone. I had grown an immunity to it all. As usual, I got my food and sat at the one table that nobody else sat at and ate quietly.

"Uh- Hazel?" Sam asked.

I looked up at her, and I wasn't that I was _trying_ to be rude, "What?"

"Mind if we sit by you?" She asked, Tucker stood by her, and she had Danny's sleeve in her fist, keeping him from going anywhere.

"Why?" I swallowed my food, "Learn shit about me then talk shit behind my back?" I took another bite of the cardboard-flavored pizza, "Sorry, not joining that one-man-group this time."

Sam frowned, "No." she sat down and pulled Danny with her. Tucker sat on my other side.

"We're part of that group too." Tucker said. "We're the freaks on campus."

"We'll be the freak squad." Sam gave me a cocky smile.

I couldn't help but to laugh, "The 'Freak Squad'?"

"They're being serious." Danny said, not making any eye contact with me, "My parents are the ghost-hunters in town. Ever heard of Fenton Works?"

"Dude, I've been here three days." I said, "I don't know, nor do I care." I kept eating, "I'm probably gonna be gone by the end of the month anyway…" I mumbled.

Sam was the only one able to hear, "Why do you say that?" she asked.

"Like I'm telling someone like you." I said. "But, if you _must_ know… My dad's a drug addict. Someday it'll get him killed- and I've told him that, but he can't help it. Well- every damn time he gets in trouble and the cops are after him- we have to move and start all over. I haven't gotten a solid education since…" I paused, "I dunno… sixth grade? But not once has my dad put drugs before me."

"What kind of drugs?" Sam asked.

I scoffed, "Crack, meth, acid, pot, all the illegal shit." I listed off quickly.

"Wouldn't your dad get in trouble with you talking about this?" Tucker asked.

"He doesn't care." I drank a soda I had gotten from the lunch line. "Just as long as I don't get stressed-out, or whatever. He knows how much it pisses me off. He feels bad. He's tried quitting." I sighed, "He's all I got left… I just don't wanna see him kill himself." I got quiet.

Sam pat my back, "You'll be okay."

I shook my head, shaking off the melodramatic crap. "Whatever." I finished eating, "What's your guys' stories?"

I knew the three looked at each other. "Uh- nothing much to tell." They said.

I also knew that that was a load of bullshit. There was something up with Danny and I knew it. I just shrugged it off, "Alright, whatever." I stood up and grabbed my tray, "I know that's bullshit though." I looked Danny in the eye before walking off. At the trash cans, I was stopped by some big jock who was on the football team and was their star player.

"Hey, beautiful." He started, stepping into my way.

Oh, I was going to have fun with him.

"Where're you from?" he asked.

"Arizona." I answered, making my voice a touch feminine.

"An Arizonan girl, huh? Hot over there, isn't it?" he smirked, "It's getting hot over here too." He said, "Where in Arizona? Phoenix? Tuscon?"

"Mesa." I said, "The rough parts. I kinda miss it there." I shrugged, glancing around the room. I caught a glimpse of Danny and his friends watching me and Dash. Apparently that was the guy's name. After this incident, he never spoke to me again.

"You like it rough?" he asked.

"I love it rough." I said.

"Well uh- if you give me your number, I'll give you a call and we can get rough if you'd like."

I chuckled, "You couldn't handle the 'rough' I can." I said.

"Oh yeah?"

I quickly brought my knee up and knocked him between his legs, "Fuck off." I growled, "You're not even gonna ask if a chick from across the country if she's got a boyfriend?" I asked, "Better yet, try verifying that she's even a girl."

He'd already doubled over and clutched his nuts, "Wait- what?" he squeaked, " _If_ she's a girl?"

"I'm a dude, dipshit." I walked away. The entire cafeteria began laughing. Before leaving the room, I turned around and took a bow, then walked off.

And from that day, every male in that school knew not to hit on me, now that every single person there saw me kick Dash Baxter in the nuts. And nobody messes with me after school too, which was awesome. I was able to go home in peace. My dad always picks the best places to live… Yep, the cheapest, most ghetto place in town. So… once again, I live under a stupid, friggin' freeway. It's a long walk from the bus stop, but whatever. Better than living on the streets. Thank god I haven't had to resort to that… yet… I'm still waiting for it. Great lot of faith I've got in my dad, right?

Anyway…

So I walked in the door at home and took in a deep breath of exhaust and the smell of nicotine. I dropped my bag onto the floor and checked out what the note said on the coffee table.

 _Pizza in the oven, help yourself to it. I'm out looking for a job. I'll probably be home late, go ahead and explore the new town, I know you could use the fresh air. I love you, I'll see you tonight. -Dad_

I sighed and dropped the note onto the table. I wished he'd be around a little more often. Dad and I used to watch movies, built stuff, race remote-control cars… you know- all the stuff fathers and sons did with each other. I went to the oven and pulled out a couple slices of pizza to eat. We didn't have any furniture, so I sat on a crate and ate calmly. There was slight movement in my peripheral that caught my attention. I looked over and saw a cockroach scuttling across the wall. I sighed, "Fantastic, Dad. Now we officially _look_ like we're on drugs." I said sarcastically. After finishing the pizza, I spotted a pack of cigarettes on the floor and picked it up, hoping to find one inside. I sighed in irritation, taking another glance at the note.

 _P.S. We're out of cigarettes. I'll grab some on the way home._

I rolled my eyes and started on homework. I wasn't too hungry anyway…

Before I knew it- the sky had gotten dark and my dad was still out. I had a feeling that he was full of it and that he probably found another drug connection. I swear he's like a magnet to that sort of stuff. I ate a couple pieces of pizza and laid on the ground for a while, staring at nothing.

Finally, Dad walked in the door. Stumbling and barely able to stand up straight. My body immediately froze over as I stood up. I'd rather see him on meth than to see him drunk. "D-dad. You said you were looking or a job." I said, keeping my cool.

He gave me a look that already told me that I screwed up. I leaned away and kept my mouth shut.

He stumbled to the crate where my school stuff sat and picked up an open textbook I was given for my homework. "This the kind of bullshit _this_ school's throwing at you?" he asked. "What does all of this mean?"

"It's… uh-" I paused, "It calculates trajectory and… distance of a thrown object." I said, "I… don't really get it myself."

He closed the book and looked at the cover for a moment. Then quicker than I could respond, he swung and hit me on the side of my head with the book. When I bent over to hold my head, he knocked me down to the floor and gripped my neck tightly.

I tried yelling at him, or tried telling him to get off, but his grip was so tight I couldn't even choke out a word. I finally glared at him and opened my hand into a claw. My vision was starting to splotch and blur. In my hand, I produced a weak, greenish-yellow flame and pressed it into his face. It took a moment, but finally he backed off and began coughing. I took a deep breath and started coughing too, but I laid still on the ground, trying to catch my breath and regain the ability to move. Meanwhile, my dad finally stopped coughing, and I know he looked at me, because he started screaming in horror.

The thing about the flames I can make- which I'll explain more in a bit- the flames can make people hallucinate. And I've been told that they hallucinate some screwed-up stuff. I've done it to my dad on several occasions, all of them so he'd get the hell off. This sort of thing? This wasn't the first time. Not by a long shot.

But anyway…

He screamed at the top of his lungs in absolute horror, "Oh God, Hazel…" he cried, "I'm so sorry!" he cried and hugged me. Whatever he was seeing this time, had to have been horrifying. "I'm so sorry, son!" he held my head against his shoulder, covering my mouth and nose.

"Can't… breathe…" I wheezed.

He gasped and pulled my head away from his shoulder and let me breathe.

I pushed him away and rolled off of his lap, still panting. "Enjoy the hallucination?" I stood up and stumbled away for a moment, my voice raspy and hoarse. "Asshole." I growled and walked off, leaving my dad confused and in tears.

I went up to my room where there was no bed and a bed sheet nailed to the wall over the window in place of a curtain. I shook my hand and took a deep, shaking breath. Sending flames up my arm and completely changed into something that they- in Arizona- called Acid. My head was now a skull covered in the flames I used against my dad. My shoulders and chest was bare, save for a cloak that was shredded. My pants were frayed at the bottom of the legs, and my feet were bare. My dad ran up the stairs and flew open the door to my room, "Hazel- A-Acid…" he panted, "I'm sorry."

I shook my head, "I don't wanna hear it." I turned and flew out the window, phasing out as to not cause any damage.

I wasn't sure what it was- but the air in Amity Park, Michigan is certainly a lot cleaner than the air in Mesa, Arizona. So much cooler, too. I can walk down the street in Amity Park and not sweat my ass off like I did in Mesa. Down below, I heard people screaming. When I looked down, I saw that they were screaming at me. No surprise. People from everywhere else I've lived did the same. I scare people. I get it. However, I was never used to someone attacking me from higher up. Something hit my back, just after I got that weird feeling in the back of my neck. I fell to the ground and forced myself up.

"You're new." The attacker landed by me. His hair was white, his eyes were green, he looked familiar- but I couldn't place the face. He was a ghost though, that much I knew. "Nothing like the other guys I've seen."

I scoffed, "Screw off, kid. Go play with someone else or go watch some anime or something." I said and started walking off.

"Anime!?" he asked, seeming highly insulted. He threw another energy blast and hit the back of my head. "I don't watch anime, I spend too much time fighting whack-jobs like you!" he barked.

I turned to look at him, "Now you've pissed me off." I said and threw one of my shots at him. While he had ectoplasmic rays, I had projectiles, which were small, sharp bones that one would think were from my ribs and sharpened, however, they were all infused with my ghost energy and can be thrown to not only cut up the poor bastard I'm fighting, but burn the shit out of them. I threw five bones and cut him up in three different places, one was his cheek, another was his arm, and the last was his side. "Trust me, kid, I'm out of your league. I can fuck you up pretty badly." I warned, "Back off, or you'll be having nightmares for the next month. Sleep deprivation can drive someone insane." I added.

He stood there a moment, wiping the blood from his face, "Who are you?"

I smirked and walked off, "You don't wanna know."

He shot at me again.

"That's it!" I turned and lunged at him, closing the distance between us quickly and uppercut him, sending him high up into the sky. I flew up after him, "I was being nice with the warnings." I told him, punching him again as he began falling back down and sending him into the side of a building, "But then you've gone and pissed me off."

He pulled himself out of the wall, groaning. He swung his hand and threw ice shards at me. I waved my arm and blocked it with a fire shield. This was perfect. I generated a fire ball in my hands and threw it at him, however, he was able to dodge it and move out of the way.

"What's wrong? Am I giving you a run for your money?" I asked.

The next thing- I swear the kid screamed. He screamed and made a sound wave that actually hurt. I had never seen anything like it, I don't know how to do that myself. This kid had some lungs in him. I think. He was bleeding, so clearly he's human. He's just like me. Half human, half ghost. I grew curious as to what happened to this poor bastard. I crashed into the wall and took a moment before falling to the ground. After lying there for a moment, I heard footsteps coming closer. I looked up and saw the ghost kid. "I can't believe I lost to your stupid tantrum." I groaned and pushed myself to my hands and knees.

"Stop treating me like a kid." He said, popping open a white and green thermos, "Let's just get you back to the Ghost Zone." He grumbled.

I started laughing, "You sound like you had a day. Lemme ask you this: has your human side gotten enough sleep? Because _you_ don't look so good around the eyes there, buddy."

He paused, "My human- wait- what?"

I sat up, "Kid, I'm not stupid. You wouldn't have bled if you weren't human too. Half-human, half-ghost, huh? Never met one like you before." I took a moment to realize the equipment he had with him, "Wow… _and_ you're a ghost hunter."

The kid threw his hands up in the air, "What's the point you're trying to make here?"

"I'm saying- let me go, and I won't finish kicking your ass." I taunted.

He showed me the open end of the thermos.

I snapped my fingers and flashed in the yellow flames, teleporting to the roof behind him. I crouched down and lowered the flames on my head and watched him. He looked around, extremely confused. He sighed and poked the earpiece he had, "He vanished, guys. I'm going home, this one was tough." He said before flying off.

I flew off in the other direction and back to my place. I flew back into my room and changed back to my human half, brushing my hair out of my face. I just went to bed… school tomorrow.

**This is going to be centered on Hazel. He will pick on Danny, but only because he figured it out and he did so tonight because he was already in a bad mood. Wouldn't you be? Anyway… Again: if you DO NOT like this sort of theme, or idea, or even the fact that it's from Hazel's point of view, then you brought this upon yourself even after my warning up top. I do not want any reviews that complain about my OC, the drugs, any of it. Again: those of you who have read this and actually enjoyed it despite the warning, thank you.**


	2. Chapter 2

So "breakfast" the next morning was fun. As usual. And I mean that sarcastically. My dad refused to look me in the eye after what happened last night. I ate my cereal without looking at him. "So…" I started, "What did you see _this_ time?" I asked. At this point he was sober. Fortunately, the hallucinations sobered him up just about instantly. Every time, my dad sees something different.

"Th-there was blood everywhere…" he started, "Your throat- someone slit your throat and…" he shook his head and took a deep breath, "Your eyes were gone." He said.

"So someone slit my throat and gouged out my eyes." I concluded, "Fantastic."

"You've got to stop doing that." He said, "It's giving me nightmares."

"And _you've_ got to stop drinking." I dropped my spoon and glared at him, "I've lost count a long time ago how many times we've done this. You'd go out and get an _actual_ job, but instead you go out drinking and come home to strangle _me_. I'm _sick_ of it." I snapped, "You said you were gonna change. You _promised_."

He looked at me submissively, his eyes kept glancing up and down slightly. I know he was looking at the bruise on the side of my face from when he hit me with the book. He sighed, "I'm sorry, Hazel…"

"Enough with the 'sorry'. Anyone can say 'sorry' then turn around and do the same old stupid shit they were doing before." My dad never minded my cursing. Mom, however, would've killed me for it. She was the 'good girl' type of woman. But one night, my dad took her to hang out with his friends, got her strung out on God knows what, and she put a bullet in her head because she was convinced she was playing Russian roulette. I never saw her again. On occasion with Dad's hallucinations, he wouldn't even see me, but he'll see Mom and the way she died. "When are you going to keep up on your promise?" I asked. "I already lost Mom…"

He flinched.

"I don't want to lose you too…" I said and walked off. Was that a low blow? Yes. Was it effective? Not really. This is also not the first time we've had a conversation like this. I walked down to the bus stop and waited for the bus. I did however, find a pack of cigarettes on him that morning while he was still passed-out on the living room floor. He owes me at least that. I took one out and pulled out my lighter. I lit the cigarette and took a deep breath. Just so you know- I was seventeen when I was doing this. I quit smoking when I was twenty because I got a girlfriend who slapped me for it. Remember this- I look exactly like a girl without boobs.

Besides the point, my point was, everyone gave me a strange look when they saw a seventeen-ear-old 'girl' smoking at 'her' school bus stop. I sat at that bus stop for about forty-five minutes, waiting for the bus to come. Other students had already gathered around and started chatting amongst each other. I was left alone. Nobody saw me smoking, but everybody saw the bruise on the side of my face. Girls kept coming up and asking if I was okay and if my 'boyfriend' hit me. I ignored them. I was sick of this kind of attention.

"Oh my god, he choked you too?" they started gasping and asking.

Oh great, now they knew that I was choked last night too. I was in for an awesome day…

I rode the bus and kept my hair brushed around the sides of my neck and kept my head down. I sat in my first class next to Danny, Sam and Tucker and kept to myself.

"Good morning, everyone, how are we doing?" the teacher greeted, then I heard him pause, "Mr. Richards, what happened to your face?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I said firmly.

"Well- if you do, come see me. Okay?"

I kept my eyes forward, but I was able to see Sam looking at me in concern through my peripheral. I also saw Danny, who now had a cut on his arm and on the side of his face that he didn't have yesterday. I nodded and hid a smirk. Now I knew his secret. I went through class like normal and even passed in my completed homework.

Again, nothing excited happened. At lunchtime, Sam insisted that Danny and Tucker sat by me again, this time, they had a redheaded girl with them. I acted as though they weren't there. Not until Sam spoke at least.

"So… Hazel, what happened?" she asked.

"I had a bad day yesterday." I said, "And _that's it_." I growled. "I don't want to talk about it, I don't want you to know about it."

"Did your parents beat you?" the redhead asked. This was Jazz. I don't know where she came from.

I glared at her, "I said I _don't_ want to talk about it." I said flatly.

"Well- maybe talking about it would make you feel better." Jazz said optimistically, "Was it your mom? Or your dad?"

I stood straight up and even shifted the table, "I _said_ I _don't_ want to _talk_ about it." I repeated, "But if you _must_ know, my dad came home drunk. I don't _have_ a mom because she put a bullet in her head playing Russian roulette when I was twelve. Happy now?" I asked and stormed out, hearing other students murmuring about my outburst.

"Way to go, Jazz…" I heard Danny say before I left.

I walked off to the back of the school and plopped down, lighting another cigarette and taking deep breath. I was alone for a while, but… then the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. "Oh great, company…" I sighed, sending out another puff of smoke.

Danny came around the corner, "You left your food in there." He said with the tray I left on the table.

"I lost my appetite." I said.

He shrugged and sat it by me anyways, "You should eat." He sat down beside me.

"Where's Sam and the other guy?" I asked. I knew it was Tucker, but at the time, I didn't know. Or I kept forgetting…

"They're talking to my sister."

"Is that who the redhead is?" I asked, taking another puff.

"Yeah- sorry about her." He apologized, "She thinks she's a therapist."

"Well, I don't need therapy." I grumbled and exhaled the smoke.

"You smoke?" he gave me a strange look.

"Yeah. What of it? Are you surprised?"

He paused, "Fair point."

"Better this than pot." I said, "Right?"

Danny nodded and shrugged.

"You look like you got the shit kicked out of you, too." I said, putting out the cigarette, "What's the story on that? And I _know_ it's not your parents." I said, "What happened?"

"How do you know it wasn't my parents?" he asked, "You're the first person to not assume that."

"With the way your sister is- she wouldn't let them hurt you." I said. "Unexpected fight?"

"Yeah." Danny nodded and carefully felt the cut on his face, "I don't know where the guy came from."

I nodded, "Do you want to know what happened?" I asked. I figured if I knew his secret, I might as well tell him.

Danny shrugged, "I won't make you. I'm not like my sister."

"It's the least I can do for you apologizing on her behalf." I took a deep breath, "My dad was supposed to be job hunting yesterday, but I guess he got sidetracked and went to a bar. So he came stumbling home, drunker than an Irishman, and hit me with a math textbook." I explained, "After I called him out on his lie." I added, "While I was down, he pinned me down with his hands around my neck." I shrugged, "That's what happened."

"Geez…" Danny breathed, seeming to inch away. "Is he normally like that?" he asked.

I shrugged, "One time it was a lamp- another was the bottle he was drinking from. Sometimes he pins me to the wall and picks me up." I shook my head, "It's only when he drinks though." I sighed, "Fortunately, that's rare. When he finally realizes what he's done, he freaks out and doesn't make eye contact with me. He hates it every time."

"It's happened more than once?" Danny asked in shock.

I leaned away from him. "Yeah…"

"And you're acting like it's _okay_?"

"It's not." I told him, "And we've talked about it." I sighed, "You know- you're the only person I've been _this_ honest to." I said.

"Really?"

I nodded, "I've always… kind of avoided everybody."

Danny shrugged, "Anytime." He said.

I chucked, "Wait a minute- why are you even here? I thought you didn't like me."

"Sam told me to come talk to you." He confessed, "Nobody really likes me too much either, so… might as well stick together, right?"

I held up my fist, "Thanks."

He bumped his fist against mine, "No problem." He said. I can't believe it took me this long to notice- but he kept exhaling a puff of mist. I'm guessing that was _his_ ghost sense. Mine was just the weird feeling on the back of my neck.

"Just- do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"Don't tell anyone about my dad." I said, "I hate that kind of attention and it makes me feel like I can't handle it on my own."

"But what if you _really_ need help?"

"Then I'll get you and the others." I said, "But… usually I can handle things on my own."

The bell finally rang. Danny and I stood up, dusted ourselves off and went back to our next classes. I felt lighter, it was weird. I guess talking about it does help.

"See you later." Danny waved.

"Later." I waved and turned in a different direction.

Apparently not everyone got the memo that I'm not a girl. I sat next to this idiot chick named Paulina. She looked at me in disgust, "Who did your hair?" she asked. "It's so gross."

There was nothing wrong with my hair, by the way. I woke up, brushed it, and went to school. I looked at her and studied her hair, "Apparently the same hair dresser that did yours." I replied.

"Nuh-uh." She argued, "I did my hair myself." She replied.

"You're missing the point." I said, "Your hair looks like shit."

I heard almost the entire class either gasp, of laugh at my comment.

"You have no boobs." She argued, "What kind of girl _are_ you? An _ugly_ one?"

"Not supposed to have boobs, dumbass." I said, "I'm not a girl."

She froze, "Well, you're very pretty." She taunted.

"And you're stupid." I turned to the front of the class.

Paulina growled, "Dash! Do something!"

"Hell no." Dash sat back in his seat, "Kwan?" he looked over.

A larger Asian kid stood up and turned to me, then he looked over at Paulina, "What do you want me to do exactly?" he asked.

"Sit your ass back down." I said, "Before I kick it."

Kwan frowned and picked me up out of my seat by my collar, "Who are you to threaten me?" he growled.

"Hazel Richards." I answered simply.

He rose a fist to punch me, just as the teacher walked in "Kwan!" she snapped.

I smirked, seeing the sudden horror in his face.

He was sent to immediate detention for almost punching me in the face.

The rest of school- boring, so there's nothing really to report besides that. I went home without too much happening. I walked into the apartment and found that my dad wasn't home. "Wonderful…" I sighed and dropped my stuff. There was a knock on the door, "Amity Park police."

"Fantasic." I rolled my eyes and opened the door after brushing my hair over my bruise and around the sides of my neck.

"Hello, miss, are your parents home?" one of the officers asked.

I shook my head.

"No… Kurt Richards?" they asked.

"N-no sir…" I shook my head, raising the pitch in my voice, the more they didn't think I was Hazel Richards, the better. They must've been notified of the fact that my dad's wanted for drugs from all over the country. I started out living in Mesa, Arizona. But my dad and I have jumped from Arizona, to New Mexico, Oklahoma, then to Montana, and finally to here in Michigan. They've been tracking my dad the whole time.

They gave me a strange look, "Are you Hazel Richards?" they asked.

I shook my head rapidly.

One sighed, "Miss, mind if we came inside and took a look around?"

I took a moment before bursting into the yellow and green flames, sending a few of the flames into their faces. I grabbed one by the face and threw him out to the pathetic excuse for a street and shoved the other away. I stood up as tall as I could and stood over them. They both looked at me in horror and ran off. I threw a fireball at their car before they could reach it, exploding the gas tank and disabling the vehicle.

Was it effective? Yes.

Wasn't that illegal? You bet your ass it was. But after that- the cops never showed up at my door again. And now those two were gonna return to the station and get in trouble for their hallucinations. Hallucinogenic flames sure came in handy, I'll tell you what.

After the scene though, I went intangible and went back inside, closing the door behind me. I didn't give a shit if anyone know of my ghost half. What were they gonna do? Exorcise me? They've tried that. The priest refused to touch me after he hallucinated his crucifix screaming. But fortunately, nobody saw. They heard, but it was all over by the time they came to check out the racket.

My dad walked in "What's with the burnt up car out front?" he asked.

"The cops came looking for you." I answered simply, "So I scared them and blew up their car." I continued on the homework I had started on.

"You know that makes you a felon, right?" he asked.

"Yep." I said.

My dad saw that I didn't seem to care. "Okay."

"How'd job hunting go?" I asked.

He shrugged, "Didn't really get anywhere…" he confessed.

"Hard to find a job nowadays, isn't it?"

"It is. Unless you're willing to jump into fast food."

I turned around to look at him, "Dad, anything will do. We need some sort of income. I don't think he have any right to be picky at this moment."

"Son, I-"

"No." I cut him off, "Apply _anywhere_." I said, "Minimum wage is better than no wages at all. We need to make rent somehow and _not_ by selling our stuff." Honestly, I always felt like the smarter one of the family of two. All the drugs that had gone to my dad's brain dumbed him down and lowered his IQ to lower than mine. All I do is smoke. It's not that much better- I know. But it's not meth… like I said, I eventually stopped smoking…

I'm not helping my point. My dad's an idiot.

My dad sighed, "You're right…" he brushed his hair back, "You're right…" he sat down beside me and watched me do my homework… considering we didn't have the money to buy a TV, it was _something_ to watch. "The history of Michigan?"

"I don't know a thing about it. The teacher told me to Google it- but we don't have a computer, let alone internet, and I'm _not_ going to the library." I explained.

"Why won't you go the library?" he asked. "What was that whole thing about _not_ getting picky about anything?" he asked.

I got quiet. He was right, there was usually too many people at the library. I didn't want to be around them. I sighed, "Dad… if you don't care whether or not I graduate… just as long as I'm in school. Why do you care that I'm in school anyway?" I looked at him.

"I don't want you to grow up as stupid as I am." He answered. "I want you to make friends. Good friends. People you can trust." He looked me in the eye. "I've introduced you to some bad people, Haze… it's not fair to you and frankly… it's made me a terrible parent. I… even took your mom away from you because of some idiots I met on the street." He confessed, "My biggest regret is leaving you without a mother. Hazel… please don't make the same mistakes I made. Don't…" his eyes watered up, "Don't be like me."

"Dad- I'm seventeen and already smoking."

"And so far, I'm already fucking it up for you." He cut me off, "I've been screwing up this whole parenting thing since you were born. I always owed people money, I've always had people looking for me. Your mom was pissed." He sighed, "I can't even count how many times I've almost lost you…" he wiped his eyes.

This was one of his bad days… my dad would have great days, drug-booze days, or bad days where he's sober and slips into depression because he realizes that he's a shitty parent. I knew why he paused… thinking of the several times I've been held at gun point, held with a knife to my throat, kept hostage in someone's car and was even threatened to be left alone in the middle of the desert.

I lied to Dash before. About Mesa? I didn't miss it one bit. Mesa can continue to burn in hell for all I cared. Phoenix, any of Arizona…

I've slipped into comas before because of my dad… almost died of blood loss, or even… God… I can't even think of them all. Concussions, asphyxiated… yeah. There wasn't much that hadn't been done to me because of my dad's drug problem.

Child Protective Services knows about my situation. They've tried taking me from him. But they never caught up to us. As far as they're concerned, we either still live in Mesa, just- I dunno, under a bridge or something, or my dad and I are both dead.

Why do I stay with my dad? Because I still love him. Even if he's a stupid son of a bitch that needs to take better care of his 'son-and-a-half'. He's all I've got left and no way in hell am I gonna let any damned drug dealer or cop take him from me.

**No comment here… review and lemme know what you think.**


	3. Chapter 3

I went flying again that night. Just wanted to relax. I flew around and studied the city. I finally flew over Fenton Works, the family-owned company in town that hunted ghosts. Fenton… I thought hard- I heard that name from somewhere…

Oh yeah…

Danny had to be around somewhere. He had mentioned that his parent were ghost-hunters. I paused for a moment. His parents _had_ to be the reason he was half-ghost. I sighed and flew up higher, staying up above the clouds. I remembered when I became half-ghost… a few friends of mine dared me to go to the haunted house down the street from where we lived. I got cocky and said, "I'll go inside the friggin' house." And walked up the pathway. Let me tell you: I've never lost any friends faster than I did in that one night than I did in my entire life. Only one of them remained when I woke up. The pain was immense. I asked him what had happened, and he told me that there was some sort of portal that opened right as I got to the front door. The entire thing shocked me and I collapsed immediately. The others had thought it killed me and didn't want to be responsible for my death so they bailed out on us. So Kale stayed and helped me figure out my powers. I wonder sometimes how he's doing… I never told him I was leaving with my dad when we were escaping the cops. I hope he's okay.

My thoughts were interrupted when something green flew passed my face. I looked down at the ground and saw a big guy in an orange jumpsuit, and a skinny woman in a green-ish blue jumpsuit. "Fantastic." I rolled my eyes and flew up higher, however, this time they hit me. My arms and legs were wrapped close to my body and I was knocked off course from my flight path, crashing hard into the ground. I groaned and tried freeing myself from the net, and even trying to phase out of it, but instead the net shocked the hell out of me. I heard footsteps getting close. I turned to look at the owner, seeing it was Danny. "Geez, they actually _caught_ you?" he asked and knelt by me, "Impressive."

"On whose end? Mine or theirs?" I growled. My voice completely changes when I'm in ghost form, so there was no possible way that he would be able to recognize me.

"Both." He started untangling me from the net. "They usually have really bad aim."

"Hey- aren't you their son?" I asked, "Why are you helping me?"

"Do you _want_ to get dissected?" he asked and pulled off the last bit of netting off of me. He then retrieved the thermos again which had been strapped over his shoulder. He opened it and aimed it at me. "You're better off in here. I'll just send you back to the Ghost Zone."

I glared at him instead and threw the green flames at him, enough to knock him back, but not to hurt him. I took off before anything else happened.

"Danny? Danny, what happened? Where's the ghost?" a voice called. It sounded like maybe it was his dad.

"Danny? Are you okay, sweetie?" a woman's voice asked, "Danny?"

I landed on the roof and changed back to watch. Danny was rolling to his hands and knees, coughing hard. He was going to have one hell of a night. I wasn't expecting him to be in school the next day. I changed back, somewhat feeling bad about what I had done. I flew home and went straight to bed. At least he knows that I'm not a ghost he'd want to get into a fight with. That's all I had to say about that.

Just as I guessed it- Danny wasn't in school the next day. Sam and Tucker didn't know what was wrong with him and was even denied to see him by his parents. Of course no one even thought to ask me. But it wasn't like I was gonna tell them the truth. Jazz sat by us at lunch though. She was able to tell Sam and Tucker.

"Danny was with Mom and Dad ghost hunting last night. He was getting a ghost out of a net and was going to take him back to the Ghost Zone so they wouldn't dissect him, but… Danny said that the ghost threw flames at him. Danny's been hallucinating all night."

"Hallucinating what?" Tucker asked.

"He won't tell us. But whatever it is, it's really scaring him. He's been screaming and shaking the entire time. He won't let us touch him." She explained, "He should be asleep right now. I just hope it's not permanent." She said.

"It won't." I said.

They all looked at me, "How do you know?

"Back in Mesa, I was into the whole ghost thing." I started, "I researched as many as I could when I had the opportunity. What did the ghost look like?" I looked at Jazz. Of course, I was there, but I was playing the whole charade. I certainly didn't want them to know that I'm the reason that Danny'd been hallucinating all night.

"Uh- red cape, skull head with green flames. He met him before."

I nodded, "Sounds like Acid." I said, "He's a ghost from the desert. He travels everywhere. He doesn't like attention, in the very least, and he doesn't like getting help." I took a bite out of the sandwich I got for lunch, "Danny was better off leaving him in the net. He probably would've done it to his parents instead." I said, then looked back at Jazz, "No offense."

Jazz grew silent.

I sighed, "I'm just saying. Acid uses those green flames to induce hallucinations in whoever pisses him off."

"He was just going to take him to the Ghost Zone." Jazz grew defensive.

"Maybe the guy doesn't like the Ghost Zone." I argued. The bell rang, so I grabbed my tray and started getting up, "God- everyone's arguing with me today…" I complained. It was true. My dad and I argued that morning, then it was the teacher trying to get me in trouble for having cigarettes in my possession, but I argued that they were my dad's, then I had to argue with the principal about them. Then he called my dad and we argued some more- I was having an awesome day. Then finally Jazz argues with me because her brother stuck his nose into a situation that he shouldn't have.

Okay, I get it, he was trying to play 'Hero' like he apparently always does with his ghost-vigilante-thing, and was trying to be nice, but honestly I was able to handle myself. I went to my next class. I figured I should just get the next class over with and go home and take a damn nap. Or just go to bed.

Boy was I wrong.

Jazz thought it was a good idea to drag me back to hers and Danny's place and have me talk to Danny about Acid. Oh good! I was gonna give a lesson on drugs!

Just kidding. I felt sarcastic, but hey- it applies.

Jazz led me, Sam, and Tucker to Danny's room, where he sat on his bed staring at his hands. "Danny?" Jazz called gently, "Turns out Hazel knows all about that ghost that you met last night." She said.

He glared at her, then at me. I'd never seen such a look on him before. Whatever he hallucinated the night before must've screwed him up big-time.

Jazz nudged me in front of her. I sighed and rolled my eyes, "The ghost's name is Acid." I started, I've never had to come up with a backstory with him. I'd have to later, unless he asks now, "He doesn't like company, he doesn't like people, he doesn't like help, and I don't think he likes the Ghost Zone-"

"So when you offered to take him to the Ghost Zone, you offended him."

"Offended _him_?!" Danny asked loudly, almost shrieking, actually.

"Shut up and let me finish." I cut in, "He uses those green flames on his head- which are actually gasses-"

"To induce horrific hallucinations of blood, and dead people?" Danny asked bitterly.

Is that what he saw? He needs to go out and see scary movies more. That's my opinion. My dad has seen worse in real life. Unfortunately, worse than even _he_ hallucinated. He's seen some scary, nasty shit.

"My recommendation is to not fight that guy again." I suggested.

"No, really?" Danny said sarcastically.

"He's just trying to help you." Jazz snapped at him.

"Where did this ghost come from?" Danny asked, his tone was a little more aggressive. I glanced over at Sam and Tucker- clearly he wasn't normally like this. I really screwed the guy over last night.

I froze up. I honestly did, "The desert. But he wanders around the country." I said. "He worked in a factory in Texas and the factory equipment malfunctioned. Apparently there was a gas leak and he was one of the twelve people who died of suffocation."

The four gave me a disturbed and disbelieving look. "That doesn't really explain the hallucinations."

I rolled my eyes, "The employees that survived reported that he was screaming when he died and was staring at something they couldn't see. You would think." I crossed my arms.

"I don't believe it." Danny sighed and grabbed his head.

"Now if you don't mind," I bowed slightly, but mainly to turn to leave, "I'm going home." I said and started walking out.

"Uh- Wait! Hazel!" Jazz ran after me, "Want me to give you a ride home?" she asked.

Her parents walked beside me at that moment, they must've just walked in the door from… God knows what. Her dad looked down at me, the guy was huge and wore an orange jumpsuit. His blue eyes watched me curiously. "Who's this?" he asked, "Did Tucker get a girlfriend?" he asked.

"Jack…" their mother sighed, "Hi, I'm Maddie, I'm Jazz's mother." She tried to hug me, but I stepped back and even pushed her away from me.

"I'm not a hugger." I said flatly.

"Trying to counsel this one into embracing her inner child?" Maddie asked Jazz. She turned bright red as well.

I held up my hands, "Well- I need to get home and take care of my dog." I lied, "Catch you guys later." I said and walked out the front door.

"Well- Jazzie, go take her home. It's not safe for a lady like her to be walking home on her own."

Every word struck at my nerves. She, she, she, her, her, her, lady, lady, lady… it was driving me insane. I whipped around, still standing in their doorway, so I stumbled a little after kicking the bottom of the door frame. I took a deep breath, "For your information, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton," I started, "I'm not a girl. And I can handle myself just fine." I stated and started walking home.

I was halfway down the street before a car pulled up beside me. I kept walking out of instinct, I'd been that kid that was yanked off the street by someone driving up to me.

"Hazel!" Jazz's voice yelled at me.

I rolled my eyes and turned to her, apparently she was dead set on driving me home. "What?"

"Get in, I'll take you home."

"I'm fine." I said and kept walking, but she continued to drive next to me.

"Look- my parents are sorry for embarrassing you."

I scoffed, "No they're not." Whether or not they were, I didn't actually care. Nor did I care if they _liked_ me.

"They really are." She said, "Look- they're worried about you."

I shook my head and kept going.

"They saw the marks around your neck."

I paused and even stopped, lightly feeling my neck and throat. I'd completely forgotten they were there.

"They just wanna make sure you get home safely." She called out. "And… I know about your dad."

I turned to her, "Your brother said something, didn't he?"

She nodded, "He got worried."

I pointed toward her house, "He certainly didn't seem too worried ten minutes ago."

She sighed, "He's also been hallucinating all night." She said, Just- get in the car and let me take you home."

I looked down and took a chance on this one. I opened the door and sat down in the front passenger seat.

She looked at me after I closed the door.

"What?" I leaned away from her.

"Put your seatbelt on."

I rolled my eyes and groaned, grabbing the strap beside me and clipping it by my left hip. In doing so, Jazz began driving in the direction I was walking in.

"Where do you live?" she asked.

"By the freeway, under that bridge." I answered her plainly. "On Hermann."

She gave me a look, "Next to the train station?" she asked.

In the week I'd been living there, not once did I hear a train, but I have seen railroad tracks by the apartments. "Apparently?"

"Why there?"

"Jazz, look at me, do I _look_ like I can afford to live somewhere else." I asked.

She glanced at me, hen realized that I had been wearing the same shirt over the past three days. "Good point."

I sighed and sat back, allowing her to drive at least to the street I had mentioned. It bothered me that Danny told her about my dad, and the fact that their parents saw the bruises around my neck. "I told Danny not to tell anyone." I said.

"Like I said: he got worried." She repeated, "He pretty much never gets worried about someone at school. He even said there was something… different about you."

I paused, "Different how?" I asked, skeptical that Danny by some odd chance would know I was Acid.

"I don't know, he doesn't either. It's not every day you meet someone who's as open to their dad's drug problem as you are. And the fact that you told him on your own about what happened when your dad… um- yesterday…" I knew she was having trouble with the words. "When he…"

"Strangled me half to death?" I finished for her.

"See? That's what I'm talking about." She glanced at me, "Normal people wouldn't say it flat-out like you did."

I shrugged, "So?"

She turned onto Hermann, and headed toward the freeway.

"It's that apartment right there." I pointed, "With the torched car."

She gasped, "Oh my god, what happened?" she asked.

"I dunno." I lied, "That was there when we moved in."

She sighed and parked in front of the destroyed cop car, "Hazel, what I'm saying is… you're not like normal kids. And we want to help you. We know things aren't right in your life, and we want to fix that."

"I'm not asking for help when I talk about that stuff, you know that, right?" I gave her a look. I've had this conversation before. Not with Jazz, but with other people I met along the way.

"I understand that, I wasn't expecting you to." she said. "But please consider it." She said, "You're almost an adult, Hazel, you don't want your life to be over before it's even started." She said.

I sat silently for a while. "Permission to leave the vehicle?" was all I said.

She sighed. She probably figured that I wasn't interested, or that I didn't car. "Just think about it, Hazel. We're all worried about you." She said.

"Well- don't be." I glared at her, "I can handle myself." I said and got out of the car, "Besides, anytime I do ask for help, or take help that someone offered, my situation ends up even worse." I said firmly, then I slammed the door behind me. I listened to the car idle behind me as I walked into my apartment door. After closing the door, I watched her through the peephole, she only watched my apartment for a while sadly, glancing behind her at the torched cop car behind her. I watched her sigh and drive off.

**We all know he needs help. But he's too stubborn and too distrusting of anyone to accept it, or admit that he needs it. At least he was able to trust Jazz to give him ride home. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been distracted and honestly haven't really felt like typing. But here it is. Again, please let me know what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I stayed at Casper High for longer than three months. Thank god, because if Dad had to be chased down by the cops again, we'd have to move to Canada. Jazz invited herself and Danny, Sam, and Tucker to my place a few times. Just to hang out, and they've met my dad. He likes them, but they don't really like him. We understand why. My friends never liked my dad…

Oh shit, I'm getting attached…

Anyway… after school one day, I decided to go out flying. And like we had been for the past three months every time I go out flying, I cross paths with Danny 'Phantom', like he wasn't hard to figure out before. How he's _still_ able to juggle both aliases and confuse people is still beyond me. He shoots a few plasma rays at me, I shoot a few back, I make him crash into a wall, same stuff as before. However, this time, Sam and Tucker fought with him. No- they didn't have ghost powers too, but they used the Fenton's ghost weapons from the ground and shot at me a few times. Even hitting some. I know Danny hates me with a passion… at least my ghost half. But he doesn't know that. And as far as he's concerned, I don't know about his.

So Sam finally fired another ghost net at me and it caught my legs, knocked me off course, I hit a building and fell to the ground. I took a while to recover from that one, since Danny had to find where I landed anyway. Once I finally got the netting off of my legs, I stood up and looked around for him, sensing he was close by. Suddenly, something grabbed me and kept me in a headlock, keeping me from going anywhere. At the same time, a white-gloved fist kept punching me in the temple, not disorienting me at all, just pissing me off. But it was perfect. I was able to make the flames on my head larger, so I did, enough to cover his face and to force him to breathe in just enough to hallucinate a little bit. But I wasn't in the mood. He wanted me in his grip, so I held onto the arm around my neck and his waist, holding him in place. I felt his fist pounding against my shoulder and back to try and get me to let go of him. When he finally started clawing at me was when I let him go.

He gasped loudly and coughed so hard I think he threw up. I'm not sure, I teleported away before I was able to find out.

I'll be honest here. Every damn time I made this poor kid hallucinate, I never started the fight. I just wanted to fly, and this son of a bitch kept hitting me. So I hit him back. I will not start a fight, but I will _not_ be the one to run away until it was over. And this time, it was over. Just like every other time I sit on a rooftop, watching Danny gasp for breath and begin screaming at whatever the hell he was seeing. I felt bad every time after I do it. I flew home, where I found the house empty, again. My dad was probably at work. He did find a job. He's working at the Nasty Burger where Sam, Tucker and Danny liked hanging out. I changed back to my human form.

"Oh, god, where are my hands!?" I heard outside my door. Damn, that was fast. I didn't think we were _that_ close to my apartment. But I also didn't think Sam and Tucker were going to drag Danny to my place because of his hallucinations.

"Danny, your hands are right here. Your hands are there!" Sam's voice tried calming him.

"Oh God, Sam! Where are your eyes!?" Danny shrieked.

There was finally a knock on the door. I opened the door calmly and saw Sam and Tucker each holding one of Danny's arms. Human Danny. Danny held his head in his hands, whimpering and nearly crying. I sighed and let them in, "How many times do I have to tell him not to mess with Acid?" I asked.

"He doesn't listen well." Sam answered and sat him in the middle of the living room. "Danny, can you hear me?"

Danny hesitated to look at Sam, then cried again, "Sam, your eyes, what happened to your eyes?"

I brushed my hair back and thought for a while, "Sam, let me see him."

She nodded and moved away from Danny, who threw a fit when she moved. I knelt in front of him, "Fenton, look at me." I said, focusing into his eyes.

"H-Hazel? You're just a head!" he gasped, "W-why are you a head?"

I grabbed his hand and showed it to him.

"My hands! What happened to my hands?" he cried again.

I squeezed his palm, "Can you feel that?"

He thought for a while. His pupils were tiny, almost non-existent. As though someone was showing them an LED flashlight, but the light in the living room was medium. Darker than sunlight, but lighter than candlelight. He nodded, "Yeah, I do…" he looked back at his hand, "But it's gone, it cuts off right here…" he pointed at a spot on his wrist, seeming almost scared to touch it. "Th-the rest of it is bone and blood…" he said.

"It's there though." I said, squeezing his palm some more. Apparently I only did visual hallucinations.

"How are you doing that if you're just a head?"

"I'm not just a head." I answered and put his hand on my shoulder by the base of my neck. "My body is here. You're seeing things, Danny."

He looked at me in fear.

"Someone get a glass of water." I looked up at Sam and Tucker. I looked back down at Danny. At least I got him quiet.

"I'm not gonna die?" he asked, "There's so much blood." He looked at the ground, then he saw a pile of pillows at the side of the room, "There's your body! There it is!" he gasped, "Oh God, what happened to you!?" he cried. "Why are you so calm about this!?"

Sam rushed back and handed Danny the glass of water, "Danny, drink this."

"I'm not drinking that!" he jumped back.

"What's wrong with it?" I asked.

"It's black! And… red? What is it? That's not blood, is it!?" he backed away.

Sam and Tucker looked at each other.

"Danny, it's water."

"Hazel, there's bugs everywhere!" Danny stared at the floor.

Sam flinched and even picked up her foot. She glared at me after I told Danny that I wouldn't be surprised.

I honestly wished I knew what Danny was seeing. I sighed and stood up, "I'm going to go grab a pillow and a blanket." I said and started upstairs.

"You're going to _bed_? With Danny like this?" Sam asked.

"It's not _for_ me." I snapped and kept walking. I tucked a pillow under one arm, and draped the blanket over the other shoulder. I started walking downstairs. "Danny, close your eyes."

He went to cover his eyes, but only screamed in horror at the sight of his apparently-missing hands.

Sam went behind him and covered his eyes. Normally, that would've been a bad idea. Sam just learned that the hard way. Danny freaked out and actually hit her in the face. Tucker had to grab both arms to keep him contained.

"Danny! Calm down!" I barked, "I have neighbors, you know. Just close your eyes." I commanded again.

Danny looked at me in terror, his eyes were watering, but he forced them shut. I'd honestly never seen anyone so terrified.

"Lie down." I said and flopped the pillow behind him. I looked at Sam and Tucker, "He'll spend the night here. He can't go home like this."

"But-"

"Do you want to explain to them that he was fighting a ghost and got blasted in the face with hallucinogenic gas? Or do you want to tell them that he overdosed on some sort of drug?" I asked. "Tell them that we went out to the arcade, pulled and all-nighter, and my place was closer than his so he spent the night here. They'd believe that, right?"

Sam and Tucker nodded.

"Good." I noticed Danny had laid down and covered his head with his arm. I draped the blanket over him, "I think the best thing to do now is to let him sleep it off." I said.

"Won't your dad mind?" Sam asked.

"No, he wouldn't care. He'll just be happy that I have friends." I said.

The two looked at each other. "Your dad seems to be doing better than you said he does." Tucker pointed out.

I thought for a while, "Yeah… It's freaking me out a little." I started for the kitchen, "Hungry?" I called out to them, starting to pull out a few ramen packets.

"Uh- no. No thank you." Sam said.

"We should be heading home anyways…" Tucker added.

I scoffed and went back to the living room, "Fine." I walked out, "I'll walk you out, at least." I offered.

After I let Sam and Tucker out of the apartment and bid them good night, I turned around to look at Danny, "You want something to eat?" I offered.

"Lost my appetite…" he said, still covering his head and avoiding eye contact.

I nodded, I figured anyway. Dad never wanted to eat anything either after his hallucinations. I grabbed a wet rag and a warm bowl of water instead of some food and knelt by Danny. "I'll make some tea later…" I mumbled to myself.

"What?" Danny asked.

"Nothing, ignore me." I said and moved his arm, replacing it with the wet rag.

"What's this supposed to do?" he asked.

"My dad's had a run-in with Acid." I explained, "Just doing what I had to do for him." I said, "I heard it's supposed to help. That's what I read anyway…" I dipped my hand in the warm water and wiped the back of his neck.

"This is really awkward…"

"I know." I said, "But it should help."

"The worst part about it is that I'm enjoying it." He mumbled.

I scoffed. "Don't enjoy it too much- as far as people are concerned: you're straight."

"You're not?"

"No- I am." I said, "Do you think people would believe me though? I look like a girl for fuck's sake." I said, wiped more war water on the back of his neck.

He was silent for a while. I honestly thought he fell asleep. But I guess he was just thinking, "Do you have a girlfriend? Or have you ever _had_ one?"

I sighed… no… I never had. "I never stayed in one place long enough…" I said, "I always moved around a lot, and I was never the popular type, or the type someone would go up and talk to. Unlike what Sam did. That was weird for me." I explained, "So… you know- _everyone_ avoided me because they didn't think I'd be pleasant to be around." I furrowed my eyebrows, "Honestly, I still wonder why you, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz still hang out with me. I know Jazz is worried about my self-esteem and how I think about myself, but…" I got quiet.

Danny moved the rag from his head and squinted at me, "But what?" he asked.

I didn't want to answer that. What I wanted to say- would've only proven Jazz's point. Why worry about me? What's the point? I'm not gonna stick around much longer anyways, why get anchored to something so temporary like my stay in Amity Park? Or… even this world?

I'd considered it several times, and even attempted it. Thank god Jazz has never seen my stomach. She's already seen my wrists. That's why I'm a concern to her anyway. I just need the cops to chase my dad again and then I could make my own escape. That way, no one would even know…

"Hazel…" Danny called again. He'd been calling while I was thinking, I just ignored him, "See- this is why my sister's worried about you. Why _I'm_ worried about you. Everyone is." He said, "Trust me, I've had moments where I felt the same." He claimed. "I'll have a fight with Sam and Tucker and family drama going on at home, and I'll have that quick thought:" he snapped his fingers, "I won't be missed."

I looked at him. He didn't look the type. But considering what he does, it made some sense.

"But it's all temporary and some of it's on me, so I go out and fix it." He said.

"Danny, this bullshit with my dad, has gone on my entire life." I said, "None of it had been in my control. None of it was my choice. In fact, I'm amazed I've lived through some of the shit that's happened to me. If my dad lets one of his drug-dealing so-called 'friends' kidnap me and hold a gun to my head again, I'll fucking let them do it." I said. I stared at nothing… not him, not the bowl, or the rag, just stared blankly, internally fuming.

But I knew he was horrified.

He saw I was serious.

"That's why I avoid people. Why I try _not_ making any friends… because when I'm gone, I don't want to leave anyone behind. Just saving them the trouble."

He was quiet for a while. "That's it?" he asked, "You'll just- die and have nobody remember who the heck you were? Once you make the headlines, people will keep asking, 'who is he? Who is he? Just some kid, he was a wallflower'?" Danny asked.

"I'd rather that and have no pain, than to have _everyone_ know and be upset over it."

"What about your dad?" he asked.

I shrugged, "I don't think he'd blame me."

He got quiet, "Hey- why are you telling _me_ this?" he asked.

"You asked me a question and I ran with it, okay?" I grabbed some water and splashed his face. I sighed, "I've… never told anyone about any of that…" I said, "Not even my dad."

He finished rubbing his eyes, "Well—I'm surprised you're telling me this…" he said. I caught that when he asked why I was telling him. "Do you still…?" he trailed off, but I knew what he was talking about.

"I still think about it…" I confessed, "But… honestly, you, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz are making it difficult to go through with it." I shook my head, "What do you see now?" I asked him.

"A suicidal hermaphrodite?" he rose an eyebrow, but I slapped him upside the head. I wasn't expecting that type of answer.

"Smartass, I mean your hallucinations." I snapped.

He looked around, "I still see bugs everywhere… they're just… small. And I'm still seeing blood."

"You're awfully calm about it." I said, "You have your hands?"

He quickly looked at his hands, "My hands are there, but it looks like something chewed off my fingers…" he put his hand back under him, he looked back at me. "You got the rest of your body back while you were talking."

I nodded, "But they've calmed down, right?"

He shrugged, "Sort of…" he said, " _I_ calmed down, since it's happened so many times and the fact that it's not real."

"How has it happened so many times?" I asked, I just wanted to hear his bullshit story.

"Well- I ghost-hunt with my parents."

I nodded, "Yeah- you guys have quite the ghost-infestation here, don't you. I've never seen so many ghosts in one place." I said, "I mostly see that… Phantom kid." I watched him carefully.

Danny nodded, I was _watched_ his tone change. "Yeah… he's not _against anyone_ though…" he said, "Yet everyone hates him, just because he's another ghost haunting Amity Park."

"He's always fighting Acid, too, I noticed…" I added, "Are they… lifetime rivals or something?"

"Not really- Acid just showed up. A little bit after you did, actually." He pointed out. "Acid always wins though, with those gas flames. Then Phantom can't fight anymore."

I nodded, "You know… those only work on someone who can breathe." I said, taking the rag and putting it in the bowl.

"How do you know?" Danny asked.

"It's only common sense, for one to hallucinate, they'd have to breathe in the fumes and have it go through their blood stream and go to their head." I explained, "It's like smoking weed, it's inhaled in order for the drug to take effect." I looked at him, "Solid ghosts don't need to breathe." I pointed out.

I saw him getting nervous. I had him cornered.

"Every time _you_ don't come in to school, is usually the day _after_ Phantom and Acid fight." I said. "You're half-ghost, aren't you?"

He inched away from me, "Don't tell my parents…" was all he said.

"I won't." I said, "Promise me you won't tell Jazz about what I told you."

He nodded just as my dad walked in the door. He looked at Danny, then back to me, "Evening, boys."

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey Mr. Richards." Danny greeted.

"Just call me Kurt, Danny." Again: at this point, Danny and the others have already met my dad. My dad doesn't really care that they don't like him. Like I said, he understands. He's just worried about me having friends. My dad looked at me, "Is he spending the night?" he asked.

"Yeah, Acid got him again." I nodded.

"Oh, wow." Dad nodded.

"How was work?" I asked.

He shrugged, "Work." He started for the kitchen, "What do we have to eat?" he asked.

"Ra-"

"Besides ramen?"

I scoffed, "Nothing."

My dad groaned from the kitchen. I knew Danny was uncomfortable. I sighed, "If Acid gets to you again, have the others come get me." I said.

**This one went along as I typed. This one I may have had Danny act a little out of character for. Whatever,I think it worked. I watched a Batman movie, I can't remember which one, but the one with Bane… with the hallucinations where they just make the victims scream. That's kinda what I had in mind. If you look up Pokemon From Hell on DA, that's where some of this inspiration came from for this fic. If this story doesn't change your view on this part of your childhood, then the DA page will. And don't worry, I'll have Hazel realize his own hallucinations soon enough. Stay awesome, people!**


	5. Chapter 5

That was an interesting night, having Danny stay. It was weird. I'm still not used to having company. Fortunately, we didn't have school. Actually, we were on spring break. Which was even better. I even aced all of my classes- except for the ones I needed the internet for. I failed those on account of cheating…

Don't ask…

Okay, I borrowed Tucker's homework.

Know what- who the fuck cares, okay? The teacher knows my situation, so she didn't completely flunk me, just gave me a D+. So that's not failing, whatever.

Anyway. I walked with Danny back to his place, just to make sure he was alright. I… wasn't expecting what happened next though. I got home, and my dad was drunk. He didn't go out, he-

He came home with a grocery bag the night before. Anyway, when I got home, I started on the dishes, then my dad walked in and complained I was making too much noise.

I argued with him, not knowing he was drunk. Before I knew it, my head hurt, my arm was bleeding and my dad's got me pinned down with both hands around my neck. This time, however… I couldn't get him off of me. If I can't breathe, I only have a little bit of time before my powers short out. And as luck would have it, they shorted out and I couldn't get Dad off of me in time.

I woke up gasping for breath, feeling the color finally return to my face. I began coughing, focusing my vision when I finally opened my eyes.

Sam, Jazz, Danny and Tucker were right above me. Jazz looked like she was going to have a heart attack, "Hazel! Thank goodness, are you alright?" she gasped.

I rolled over and took some deep breaths, "What-" I coughed, "What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"Your dad called." Tucker answered, "He was freaked out, he thought he killed you."

I took a moment to process the statement, "Where is he now?" I asked.

"Who knows?" Sam answered.

"Let's get your arm fixed up." Jazz said, gently taking it and cleaning the blood off. "What happened?"

I sat there for a moment and recollected myself. I saw Jazz hesitate after seeing the existing cars on my wrist, but went straight to work wrapping up the cut I had along the side of my forearm. I finally shook my head, "He was drunk." I said, "He came home with a grocery bag last night, but I didn't think too much on it because I was taking care of Danny." I explained. "I was doing some dishes when I got home this morning, he came down stairs saying I was being too loud. I didn't realize he was drunk, so he hit me with a pot, I cut my arm on a glass I broke in the sink and then he held me down by my throat again." I explained.

Jazz sighed, "That's it- Hazel, you're staying the night with us." She said, "Mom and Dad will understand. It's too dangerous for you here." She determined.

I felt something moving on my head, so I went to grab it and take it off, but grabbed nothing. I thought maybe it was just hair. When I looked at my fingertips though, they were bright red. I then wiped the rest of the blood off, "How long have I been out?" I asked.

"We don't know…" Sam said, "Your dad called us from a payphone."

"And I don't even know _which_ payphone around here." Tucker added.

"There's no telling." Danny concluded.

"Thank goodness you're okay, though." Jazz helped me up, "Come on, you're coming home with me and Danny. Go grab what you need." She ushered me upstairs.

I walked into my room and looked around, there was still a lack of furniture and clothes. I just had a mattress. I'm still wearing the red shirt and jeans I had when I moved here. Of course everything had been washed… but… yeah, you get my point. Realization began hitting me that day. If this was being kept up, I'd be dead by the end of the year. I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten, everything I did was shaky. Why was I even upstairs? What did I have to grab that I needed? I didn't even have a toothbrush. Thank god it was genetic that I had good teeth, sure I was missing a molar, but that was a different story- I was hit hard enough in a fight that my jaw cracked and my tooth fell out.

Beside the point. I didn't have anything. No extra clothes, no books, toothbrushes… nothing. I just had my schoolbag, and that was donated. I sighed and grabbed it. We didn't have school, but there were pens, pencils, and paper, plus my school stuff. It was all of my stuff, and she said to grab what I needed. I trudged downstairs with it over my shoulder. I looked up and they all stared at me, "What?" I scoffed. "We're broke, remember?"

Jazz sighed, "We'll take care of you."

I rolled my eyes, "Alright…" I followed everyone out to Jazz's car and sat in the back seat next to Sam and Tucker. Jazz drove, Danny took shotgun.

When Jazz pulled up to the massive "Fenton Works" building, her and Danny's parents met outside and started interrogating them, asking if I was okay, what happened, but after an awkward glance between the two siblings, their parents turned on me.

"Are you okay? What happened? Are you hurt?"

I backed away. It wasn't this that I wasn't used to- I was being crowded. Jazz had her arm around the back of my shoulders, their mom was in my face and had each hand on each side of my face, their dad had one of his massive hands on my shoulder. I felt my blood pressure rising, my heart began pounding, my stomach twisted to the point where I felt like I could throw up if there was anything in my stomach. My blood ran cold. I hated the attention. I began to feel anxious.

"Oh my god, sweetie, your head!" their mother gasped.

That was it. I shook myself out of everyone's grip and bolted down the street.

"Hazel! Wait!" Jazz called behind me.

I turned the corner and found myself in a dead-end alley. Whatever, I punched the closest wall to me. Every possible negative emotion rose to my chest and the only outlet they had led to my arms and fists. My knuckles were cracked and bloody by the time I knelt, growling.

I rarely did this. But I was sick of it… I didn't want anyone worrying about me anymore. The last time I ran off and beat the shit out of a wall and cried like some prissy cheerleader, was probably Mesa. Or… no, yeah- Mesa. Suddenly I felt the back of my neck tense up.

"Hazel, dude, they're just trying to help." Danny found me in the alley.

"Y-you told them, didn't you?" I said, trying to keep my voice from cracking.

"What- no!" he sighed, "Look, your dad called Jazz at breakfast. She heard that you got hurt and she couldn't hide her expression. After she hung up, she said that your dad called and he thought he killed you."

I scoffed, "Great, so now your parents know that my dad's a dangerous alcoholic and could kill me, right?"

He took a moment to respond, "We're worried about you."

I stood up and turned to him, "Well- I don't _need_ you worrying about me, okay? I can handle myself! I'm not twelve, I'm not some stupid, helpless, little kid!" I roared.

The expression I saw on Danny was new. He wasn't hurt, he actually got aggressive, "Yeah, obviously you can handle yourself- we didn't just come to your house while you're lying half-dead and bleeding on the floor, unconscious and not even breathing!" he snapped back, "You know, Hazel, you were practically purple when we found you. We thought you were actually dead!"

I flinched at this.

"We're worried about you, alright? Is that such a problem?" he held out his arms, then dropped them to his sides, "Maybe we consider you a friend and we care about you. Ever thought of that?" he asked, making me step back slightly. "You try too much to be such a badass, it's gonna kill you, dude! Wake up! It's…" he sighed, "It's _human_ to ask for help once in a while. Not once have you asked for help for… _anything_ since we met you on the first day. Not for homework, not for a pencil, _nothing_." He said, "We get it- you have trust issues. People have screwed you over in the past, your own _dad_ screwed you over. We get it. I learned a few years ago that… yes, some things aren't in your control," his tone softened, "And you might have too much pride to ask for help. But you can't spend your whole life letting the waves beat against you and just let the current wash you away." He sighed, " _You_ have to take control of your life."

I stood there, processing everything he had said.

"Don't be afraid to ask for help." He said, "But don't let yourself get taken away without a fight." He sighed, "Not every person who offers help is bad, Haze. You and your dad just trusted the wrong people." He sighed, "Let's- uh… let's get you cleaned up and get you something to eat." He said, "Come on…"

I looked down, unsure with what to do myself. For once in… I guess… six or seven years someone called me their friend. It felt weird.

"Well?"

I looked back up at Danny, who now stood at the end of the alley. I sighed and caught up with him.

"Better?" he asked.

I shrugged, "It's been six or seven years since I've met someone who gives a shit."

Danny was silent for a while, "You needed better friends." He smiled.

After we reached his place, Jazz took me with her and cleaned up my hands. I didn't really say much except for a thank you here and there, and a yes or a no so a few questions. Danny's parents didn't really say anything to me, they just stared at me in concern. I… don't really blame them. They probably didn't expect me to react like that. I mainly just followed Danny or Jazz around awkwardly. Finally it came to be dinnertime, I washed up and sat at the table between Danny and Jazz. Sam and Tucker had gone home to have dinner with their families.

I felt out of place. I tied back my hair so it didn't dangle into my food. I still hadn't spoken to their parents. I barely talked to Danny and Jazz. A conversation didn't come up until their dad said something halfway through dinner.

"So… is that a normal thing between you and your dad?" he finally asked me.

"Jack!" their mother elbowed him, "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to."

"What? It's a valid question, Maddie."

I sank and continued to pick at my plate of broccoli.

"Uh- Hazel… how old are you?" Maddie asked me.

"Seventeen…" I mumbled.

"S-seventeen?" she leaned forward, I guess she barely heard me. "When's your birthday?" she asked.

I was silent for a while, "Cinco de Mayo…"

"Cinco de- oh! May fifth?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Okay- so you _just_ turned seventeen!" she said, "You know- you're just a month younger than Danny." She informed me.

Oh great- ammo for the ghost kid in case I piss him off. "Fantastic…" I muttered under my breath.

"Uh- is everything okay? Hazel?" Maddie asked me unsure.

I felt Danny shooting me a look from across the table. I sank and ignored him. Without realizing it, my hands began shaking. I took a deep breath and finished my bite of food. "Excuse me…" I stood up from the table and walked off. I went out the front door, ducked into an alley to change, and took off.

My hands were shaking so bad at that point and my body was running so hot and cold at the same time, I finally figured out how my dad physically feels when he's on something. I found out what it means when someone's nerves are shot. I flew as quickly as I could, practically turning myself into a comet. I flew above the clouds and hid over them, knowing Danny was going to chase after me. I quickly checked behind me and fortunately he hadn't just yet. But I was being followed. That much I knew. My back began tingling and I began to feel more uncomfortable than I already was. I started looking around for anything that could be following me, but found nothing. When I finally looked forward again, I crashed full force into someone else.

Somehow, both of us stayed airborne. I turned around and glared at the obstacle, "Watch where you're flying!" I snapped.

"Oh, how clumsy of me…" the ghost brushed himself off, "Are you alright, young man?" he asked me, his red eyes I knew were trouble.

"Save the ass-kissing for a ghost that gives a shit." I growled and kept flying.

"Something's bothering you." He said and caught up to me. "School?" he asked, "Friends?" He shook his head, "No, I know that look anywhere. It's your family, isn't it?"

"Look at this face." I pointed to my expressionless, skull-head, "Does it look like I care? Fuck off." I growled and sped up.

"Where did a ghost like you come from, anyway?" he asked. "You're from Arizona, aren't you? What are you doing out here?"

I finally stopped in my tracks and hovered, "Look, buddy. I'm gonna give you one last warning:" I said. I knew he was partially human. I got the same vibe from him that I did from Danny, "Fuck off and leave me alone," I started, "Or I'll make you relive your deepest nightmares."

The man chuckled. I don't know what the deal was with this guy's hair. It looked like someone styled a croissant over with hair and used super glue to keep it that way. He had fangs and was ridiculously pale. If I didn't know any better, and he _wasn't_ flying, I would've mistaken him for a vampire. "And how do you suppose a little _bat_ like you would do that?" he asked, "Don't you know who I am?"

"Again:" I sighed, "I could _really_ care less." I kept flying, "Just leave me alone."

He _still_ flew behind me. This son of a bitch was persistent. I finally turned around and threw the hallucinogenic flames at him, knocking him out of the air and sending him down. After he crash-landed, all I heard from him after that were screams. I shook my head and flew back to Danny's place. The family had finished dinner, but my plate still sat on the table. I walked back through the house in my human form and discovered my sleeping arrangements. I didn't speak much to anyone after that. Apparently Danny had been looking for me- but he never thought to check the sky. I secretly dubbed myself a genius for the night as I went to bed on the couch downstairs.

**Fruit Loops! Best cereal ever! Most aggravating character in Danny Phantom. I swear there are so many episodes where I wanna punch that sly bastard in the mouth. Anyway, sorry for a late update, but I hope this was enjoyable. Sarcasm, drama, Hazel throwing a emo-boy-hissy-fit, all the needs for this story. I'm trying not to make him act like a little bitch, but people being nice to him freaks him out. Would you blame him, considering his past? Leave a review! Stay awesome, guys!**


	6. Chapter 6

School started again eventually. My dad was okay. He just spent a few nights at a friend's place. He agreed it was probably best that I stayed with Danny's family for a while so I didn't get hurt. Right now, they're the only people he can trust. I sat at my desk and waited for class to start while Danny and Tucker were on some sort of videogame debate. Sam was drawing in a notebook on her desk and I was almost asleep. I was up late the previous night flying. The bell rang and the teacher had begun speaking, "Alright guys, we got a new student starting this quarter." He announced.

I looked up. The new student had big blue eyes. Stood sheepishly, wore a blue souvenir shirt from a museum with a pair of shark jaws printed on the shirt.

"This is 'Bleu' Stevens." He said, "Make Bleu feel welcome."

"We'll show him around!" Sam rose her hand.

'Bleu' seemed to flinch at her outburst. I didn't see the next response coming, though. Bleu took a deep breath, "Th-thank you… but I'm a girl…" she said.

I eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I heard Tucker next to me, "Sam, you suck at this." Followed by the rest of the class laughing at her.

I stood up, the class was silenced by my chair scraping against the linoleum. I stepped around the desk and hugged Bleu. Even the teacher took a step away. I felt Bleu grow nervous in my arms.

"Uh- e-excuse me…?" she squeaked.

I let her go and sat back at my desk. My face was bright red. I knew it was.

"Okay, Hazel, thank you for that random yet- rare gesture of affection…" the teacher started. He shook his head and looked at Bleu, "Um…. Right- go ahead and sit next to Hazel." He instructed.

Bleu made her way over and sat next to me. I heard her pull out her chair and sit down next to me. I kept my head and face buried under my arms, just to avoid eye contact.

"Alright then, if you guys can pull out your homework packets from yesterday, I'm going to come collect them from you. Bleu, I'll bring you one, it's basic stuff- I promise." The teacher said, "Hazel?"

I barely peeked up to look at him.

"Your responsibility is to help out and answer any questions Bleu may have, okay?"

"Yes sir." I nodded and retrieved the packet from my bag.

"And don't fall asleep in my class, please."

I nodded and handed him my packet as he came around. He handed Bleu a packet. I didn't think she was a girl. Now I knew how everyone else felt when they realize I'm a guy and not a girl.

"Uh- H-Hazel?" Bleu called, "Do we find this stuff in the textbook?" she asked.

I turned and looked at the packet, "Uh- yeah." I nodded and handed her my text book. My face was still bright red.

She was silent for a while, "Why are you so… flushed?" she asked.

The chatter in the classroom began to rise.

"Dude!" Danny chuckled beside me, "What was that about, huh?"

"You hugged Bleu, but you'll punch one of us if we even _touch_ you?" Sam asked.

"Wait- what?" Bleu looked at them for answers. I just buried my head in my arms again.

"He's got issues." Tucker stated, "So much issues that he doesn't even like _hugs_."

"Wait- he!?" Bleu gasped and I knew she looked at me, "He… he's so pretty." She said.

The other three began laughing. I sank even more into my arms and turned redder.

"Dude- he's so red!" Tucker cackled from behind me. "Look at him!"

Someone pat my back, so I sat straight up and readied a fist, causing Danny to flinch. I lowered my head back down to the desk.

Bleu leaned over to make eye contact with me, "It's nice to know that I'm not the only one that gets confused for the opposite gender." She smiled at me.

I… don't know what it was. Maybe my heart was having issues that day, or I didn't drink enough water, get enough sleep, or something… but my heart pounded out of my chest. My stomach twisted a little bit, but not enough for me to want to throw up. My hands got sweaty and shook on occasion and my face was red the entire day. Even my speech was fucked up. What was even crazier was that it only ever happened when I was around Bleu. Maybe she was a supposed 'halfa' too? But to… a much more powerful degree. Half-demon maybe? I don't know. I'd never had this feeling before.

I spent the entire day like that until school ended. I got off of campus ahead of Danny and the others. Bleu took a bus. I ducked into an alley and changed forms, hiding my bag on the roof before taking off. Flying usually cleared my head. I glanced down under me and saw that people were getting nervous. I flew up higher to avoid being seen. But it was too late. They had already called the local ghost hunters so then there were nets flying at me and barely missing me. I wove back and forth to make it harder for them to hit me. Suddenly, below me were several… ice crystals. Only one ghost I knew who shot ice crystals. I turned around and saw Danny. I growled, "How many times to people have to tell you?"

"Tell me what?" he growled and threw a plasmic ray at me.

"Fighting me is a bad idea." I said and threw the bone shards at him, cutting him up slightly, "Just go home, kid." I teleported to avoid an attack from some ghost-hunting equipment from down below. "Or you'll get yourself caught."

"Is that a threat?" Danny asked, I'd never seen him more aggressive than ever then when he's in his ghost form.

I saw a net flying straight at him, so I shoved him out of the way, "No! It's a shit-storm from down below!"

He recovered from the shove and went invisible. I guess he started flying away but got hit anyway. I heard him grunt as a net caught him. He started falling and was visible again. I flew down and caught him. I would've thrown the bones at the hunters, but it was his parents trying to hunt us. I shook my head and pulled Danny onto a rooftop, untangling him from the net.

"This doesn't change anything." He growled and flew off.

I sighed and waited until he was gone until I changed back to my human form. I retrieved my bag that was hidden by an air conditioning unit and climbed down into the alley that I started in.

"Well now…"

I whipped around, not expecting for someone to be behind me.

"Yet _another_ halfa roam these streets?" the man asked. He looked familiar. I couldn't put my finger on it. He wore a gas mask, so gassing him wasn't exactly an option. He knew something. I studied him for a while, "W-wait- you're that ghost! The vampire-looking one!"

The man paused for a moment, "Do I look like a vampire?"

"I won't lie-" I shook my head, "Look- what do you want?" I snapped, "I gotta go." I turned around to leave.

"Right. Well- before you leave, Hazel." He started and blocked my path.

I froze and turned around, "H-how do you know my name?" I asked.

He smirked, "You and your father are wanted by the police. Your father infamous for escaping the most drug rings in the country, and you as his accomplice." He smirked, "Now- I know where your father is. So he's the deal…" he started, "Help me catch Danny so I can finish my work." He smirked.

Oh shit…

"Or… I, Vlad Masters, will turn in you _and_ your father." He snickered and pulled out a tablet from his pocket, "And by the way…" he threw the tablet at my feet, once it hit the ground, it exploded with… green flames. My green flames. I suddenly found myself coughing and gasping. "Just think about it." He said and left.

I took a while to recover and catch my breath, "H-how?" I coughed and finally opened my eyes. My nails were black and bleeding, the ground was suddenly crawling with bugs. Everything turned red and yellow. I looked up and… I swear they were trash bags before. But then I'm seeing dead bodies of people I know. Danny, Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Jack, Maddie, Bleu… Dad… I rushed to his side and tried shaking him awake, but he never responded. Blood poured from an exit bullet wound in his head. In his hand was a gun. I began to panic, my heart pounded in my chest. My dad had killed himself like my mother had. "D-Dad?" I panted, "D-Dad!?" I cried. "H-help!" I screamed, checking the rest of the bodies. Danny had a bone spike in his chest.

"H-Hazel…" someone wheezed. I looked over and saw Sam with her throat almost completely cut open.

"S-Sam!?" I rushed over, "I- wh- what happened?" I cried.

"R-Run…" she took a deep breath, "Now…"

I looked over and saw flashing lights. That- I wasn't sure if I was hallucinating, but I ran. I ran until my lungs and throat begged for my body to stop. I finally collapsed through the front door at the Fentons'.

"Hazel!" the girls gasped. I felt someone touch my shoulder. I flinched and panted, "Oh my god- you guys are alive…" I whimpered and curled into myself.

"Hazel! What happened? Where were you?" Danny grabbed my shoulders and made me look at him. I grew horrified of what I saw- his eyes were… they were just sockets. They were just flat-out gone. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"W-where are your eyes?" I forced out.

He looked up at the others, "Acid got him." He looked back at me, "Come on…" he helped me up and laid me on the couch that I slept on. "Jazz, get a bowl of warm water and a rag." He instructed.

"What happened?" Jack walked in, how he was alive terrified me. His stomach was an open, empty pit, with his ribs sticking out like teeth. I gasped and covered my eyes, trying to squirm away from him.

"He was attacked by Acid." Danny said, "I've never seen him like this. Can you get something we can cover his eyes with?" he asked.

I heard Jazz come back with the bowl and a towel as Jack left. "What do we do?" she asked. I then heard water slosh around before they moved my hair and put the towel on the back of my neck. I felt my body relax.

"Danny, go ahead and get him some water, I'll take care of him." The weight on the outside edge of the couch shifted as Jazz sat down and gently pat the back of my neck with the warm rag. "I-Is this right?" she asked.

I trembled, but gave her a nervous nod.

"Good." She managed a smile, "Just wanted to make sure this was right."

"Here…" Jack's voice returned, "Use this to cover his eyes."

Jazz gently moved my arms away from my head and draped a towel over my eyes.

"Here's the water." Danny came in and set a glass of water on the table.

"Danny, come with me." Jack instructed, "We gotta get rid of this Acid-ghost." He said.

"Good luck…" Danny's voice said sarcastically as he and Jack left the room.

I shuddered, feeling like I was lying on top of a bed of worms. I clenched a fist and pulled the towel over my head tighter.

"You're okay, Haze…" Jazz said soothingly. "H-how did Acid get to you anyway?"

I though fast for this one, "I threw a rock at him…" I answered, "And hit him."

Jazz seemed to nod. "Have you done this before?"

"Done what?" I mumbled. The warm water was starting to put me to sleep.

"Fight against Acid? Or have his hallucinations?" she asked. "You know enough about him."

I was staring to drift in and out. "I do my homework…" I mumbled, "I was always smart enough…" I yawned, "To avoid him…"

Everything tuned itself out after that, though the only question to run through my head was, do I betray my best friend? Or do I let my dad and I go to prison?

*Okay- Hazel now knows what his victims see when they hallucinate. He also knows who the vampire-ghost is, and that he's not the only person that gets their genders confused. I tried to get as disturbing as I could with this one. Not sure how I did, but let me know! Stay awesome guys!*


	7. Chapter 7

*Okay- I'll say this again because someone didn't get the memo or just didn't read the giant warning label staring them in the face: This is basically centered around an OC with a screwed-up history. **Themes of drugs, suicide and death are pretty much the main focus AND this story is told in first person by an OC. If you do not like any of this- the answer is simple: Don't read the friggin' story.** I could give less of a shit if you don't like it and think it's terrible because it's 'piggybacking off an established work'- you know who you are. It's your own fault because I warned you and you ignored the warning. I'm sticking to this style and theme until the story is done. Thank you to those who are still interested in the story, I appreciate your support.*

I went to check on my dad the next day after school. I opened the door and dropped my bag on the floor, "Dad, I'm home!" I announced.

My dad quickly came downstairs and greeted me, "How are you doing? The Fentons are treating you well, right?"

"No- yeah- the Fentons are fine." I nodded, "I um… I wanted to talk to you about something…"

"Well- come on, I was about to go outside for a cigarette." He pat the back of my shoulder and led me outside. He sat down on the curb and pat the spot next to him.

As I sat down next to him, he handed me a cigarette, "Want one?"

"Please." I took it and let him light it for me. I took a deep breath.

"So what's this about?" he finally asked, "You finally coming out of the closet?"

I slapped him upside the head, "No- this is serious…" I growled, "So I met this other ghost yesterday, and he-"

"So you _are_ coming out of the closet."

"Dad, I swear, if you imply that I'm gay again-" I started.

"Okay- okay- continue." He chuckled.

I rolled my eyes, "This guy's after Danny for some reason." I said, "And he wants me to turn Danny over to him."

"So?" he took a deep breath from his cigarette, "Don't to it."

"Well- that's the thing…" I sighed, blowing out a puff of smoke, "It's either that, or he'll turn the both of us in to the police." I said, "Since I've always had the ability, but I never turned you in- that makes me an accomplice." I said.

He was silent for a while, "Well don't do that either…" he said, "Let me clarify this first: you're a minor, the police would understand if you were just scared that you didn't _have_ any place to go if I were taken away from you. Someone needs to watch you, and you didn't want it to be a bunch of people you don't know." He explained, "Well, you _have_ people you can trust now. You've been under their care for the past couple of weeks. I…" he sighed, "You'd still be taken care of if I were finally arrested." He looked me in the eyes, "Don't back-stab one of the few friends you have."

I nodded.

He took a deep breath, he'd been ignoring his cigarette for a while now, "Turn me in. You're just a kid- you've done nothing wrong." He said, "It'll be best for everyone anyways…" he sighed and just put out his cigarette. "You're not an accomplice, you're just my son." He finally said.

"Dad, I-"

"Stop." He looked at me, "It's for your own good and it's for my own good." he confessed, "I need help. My hands have been shaking nonstop for the past several months. At this rate, I'm going to end up killing myself, and I can't stand the thought of you being an orphan." He brushed my hair back, "It's gotta be stopped before it claims me, like it claimed your mother…" he just stared at me for a moment, then he hugged me and cried into my shoulder. I tried breaking out of it, but he was too strong. I felt my eyes heat up and tears form in my eyes, "D-Dad…?"

He left me go, "The hugs- I know…" he wiped his eyes, "You look just like her."

I wiped my eyes.

He sighed, "Have him turn me in. Explain that you're not an accomplice. Don't let him use you to get to your friend."

I nodded. "Okay, Dad…" I sighed, taking in another puff from my cigarette.

He started laughing, "Must've stressed you out- you're almost done with your cigarette."

"Well- of course I'm gonna be stressed out. This guy managed to use my own gasses against me."

My dad gave me a blank look.

"And they affected me."

"Wow." He gave me a concerned look, then he smirked, "Finally get a taste of your own medicine, huh?"

I glared at him and put out my cigarette, "Fuck you." I growled, "But yeah… I guess." I sighed, "I should get back to the Fentons'… They don't want me here for too long." I said.

He nodded, "I understand." He said and stood up, "Well- I love you, Hazel."

I stood up next to him, "Love you too." I readjusted my bag. "So… um…"

"Do what you think is best." He said. "I trust your judgement."

I sighed and looked down, "Alright." I nodded, "I'll- uh… see you around, I guess."

He nodded, "See you around, Haze…" he said sadly and walked inside.

I was quiet all through dinner that night. They knew something was wrong with me, I just apparently had that look about me that made them scared to ask. But I spoke on my own, "Who the fuck is Vlad Masters, by the way?"

Half of the family dropped their silverware or began coughing. Apparently this guy was a bad subject to the family.

"W-why do you ask?" Maddie asked, she seemed a bit disgusted.

"That Vlad Masters was a college friend of mine and Maddie's." Jack said proudly.

"He's had this crush on Mom since." Jazz said distastefully.

"Now- Jazz- you don't know that."

"Yeah, we do, Mom." Jazz argued, "He's tried using me and Danny against you and Dad."

"He would never do such a thing." Jack frowned.

The two siblings looked up at their dad with a look that begged to differ. Jack shrunk and continued eating.

"The guy's insane. Some ridiculous 'Fruit Loop' if you ask me…" Danny grumbled. Obviously there was a conflict between him and Vlad. Made sense. Why else would Masters be hunting the kid?

"But- Hazel… why do you ask?" Maddie asked again, ignoring Danny's statement.

"He threatened me before I was attacked by Acid yesterday." I explained, "He wanted to turn in me and my dad to the police." I said, "If I didn't…" I paused, I wasn't sure if I should tell them. Yes, it is involving Danny, but I didn't want them to distrust me only because I was given the option.

"If you didn't… what?" Danny asked me. I had his attention now. He looked straight at me.

"He wanted me to… bring you to him…" I barely uttered.

"He what?! Why would he need to negotiate _that_ with you?" Maddie asked out of outrage.

The siblings remained silent. Obviously they knew something their parents didn't know- so I wasn't going to pry. The family grew silent, I was able to see Jack fuming. The rest of the family looked hurt, like I was considering handing over Danny.

"Y-you're not gonna do it, are you?" Jazz asked, her big blue eyes watering up.

"N-no! I'm-" I stammered, then got up from the table and ran out of the house, ducking into an alley and flying off as quick as I could. I was still unsure of even turning in my dad. I didn't want to risk never seeing him again. But I couldn't betray Danny and his family after all they've done for me. I sat at the top of a building and thought for a long time. Dad… _wanted_ me to turn him in. It was as simple as that. But why did I have a hard time letting that be my choice. I swear I must've sat there for the longest time. Long enough for the sky to turn black and for me to be more noticeable. I heard someone screaming suddenly. I looked down to see if I should even bother. I immediately hopped off the top of the building and flew down. The one who screamed was the new girl from class, Bleu. I scooped her up and carried her away from what looked like to be a gang group. "Hold your breath." I said, her face was a little too close to the flames. Once I got to the rooftop, I set her down so she could breathe, "Are you okay?" I asked.

She looked at me in fear, then realized that I just saved her, "W-who are you?"

"Uh…" I checked over the rooftop, "They call me Acid." I said, looking for the gang, but it looked as though they ran off, not expecting a green comet to swoop down and grab the girl they were after.

"Acid?" she asked, "Why's that?"

"You don't wanna find out. Trust me." I said. My back started to feel uncomfortable, "Look- miss, you should go home." I ushered, "Things are about to get ugly."

"O-okay… thank you for your help back there…" she squeaked.

Suddenly I was tackled by another ghost. You guessed it- Ding, ding, ding! Danny saw everything, but didn't see the gang, so he thought I just swooped down and yanked Bleu off the street. So he was pretty pissed. He wore a gas mask this time, which was smart on his end. But it was okay, I didn't want to give Danny nightmares again, "Now you're attacking _people_!?" he growled and threw an ice crystal at my head, hitting me hard enough I heard a crack. The lucky part- which made no sense, if I get hit in the head in my ghost form, I can't feel it. But when I go back to my human form, it hurts like a bitch. I grew fully aware of the migraine I was in for and went into a blind rage. As he flew at me, I punched him so hard, his gas mask cracked and he crashed onto the ground. As he tried getting back up, I threw large bone shards at him, they were about the size of a good-sized pocket knife or a steak knife. The first one hit him in his leg. More like his thigh, so he fell back to the ground, shouting in pain. He tried sitting up, so I threw another one and hit his shoulder, making him fall back and scream. He glared at me and readied another plasma attack, in which I responded by throwing one more into the middle of his hand, pinning it to the ground.

I remembered doing this clearly. And I'm not proud of it. I was just so pissed that I had forgotten who I was fighting. I prepared another attack, making the bone piece much bigger this time. It was almost the size of a sword by the time I realized what I had done. Danny stared up at me in fear. I dropped the attack and drove the bone spire halfway into the ground, barely missing his side. I grew terrified, realizing that I was aiming for his chest. I was aiming to kill. My heart began pounding… I was about to kill Danny…

I teleported and hid behind a van elsewhere behind him, changing back to my human form and going invisible so no one knew I was there. I watched him struggle. I wanted to help him, but it was bad timing. He dug in his pocket with his free, left hand, "J-Jazz… I need help… y-yeah. It was Acid again. No- Sam and Tucker went to check on Hazel… I'm by myself right now… No- I can't go anywhere, I'm stuck." He groaned loudly, "Just hurry!"

I stayed hidden. Long enough to see Jazz run up to him and panic. He tried pulling the bone knives out of his shoulder and leg, but was quickly told not to by Jazz.

"Why!?" he growled.

"You'll only bleed faster." She said and tried pulling out the bone pinning his hand to the ground, but stopped after he screamed and the bone was going nowhere. She sighed, "Let me call Sam and Tucker, I'm gonna need help." She pulled out her phone, "Should I call Mom and Dad?"

"No…" he groaned and twisted to his right, "Leave them out of this."

She sank and held the phone to her ear. "Sam? Yeah- we need help. Danny got hurt… yeah, it was Acid again… look- if Hazel doesn't want us around then we'll just leave him alone like he wants!" she snapped, causing even me to flinch. It hurt to hear her say that. "Danny needs help now, just come back. We're…" she looked around, "We're next to the billboard with all the graffiti on it… okay… see you in a bit."

It wasn't long until Sam and Tucker met with Jazz and Danny. Tucker and Jazz stood over Danny and pulled on the bone at the same time, one even had to hold his arm down so it wouldn't come up with the bone knife. Sam held Danny's other hand tightly.

"He- he was going to kill me this time…" Danny whimpered. They had such a hard time with his hand that he had begun crying out of pain.

"Three, two, one!" Jazz and Tucker counted down together and yanked on the bone. I couldn't bear the scream the followed. They got the bone out, thank goodness, but now Danny had a hole in the middle of his right hand now, maybe about the width of two or three pencils… I shook my head and looked away. I changed forms, but stayed invisible, and flew back to my dad's apartment and stayed upstairs. My dad wasn't home, I knew this. He was working graveyard at the gas station, which… I dunno- works? My dad didn't stay very long at Nasty Burger.

I can't remember the rest of the night very clearly. I blinked after changing forms and suddenly I was holding a bone spire the same size as the one I almost killed Danny with. I blinked again and had the point aimed at my stomach. My vision faded in and out and suddenly I was on my hands and knees coughing violently, blood spattered on the carpeting. My body grew quickly numb as I glanced at the spire sticking out of my stomach. After that, I blacked out.

*So it had been called to my attention that I used the word 'Hermaphrodite' thinking it meant one thing, but not realizing it meant something else that was inaccurate. Hazel is a guy that looks like a girl, yes, but he's not a hermaphrodite. And the same applies to Bleu, the girl who looks like a guy. Just thought I should clarify that. But uh… this one got a little intense. But I warned about this kind of stuff. Thanks for reading!*


	8. Chapter 8

*Okay- I did it for as long as I possibly could. That was a challenge, but now this is going to third-person. So Hazel is not telling the story in… at least this chapter. This is now third-person.*

Jazz made sure Danny was comfortable in his room after patching up the puncture wounds from Acid's attacks. He'd fallen asleep beforehand, so after she made sure he was comfortable, she left his room and met with Sam and Tucker, who'd grown concerned. Danny _knew_ that Acid was dangerous and wasn't to be challenged. She sighed, "Sorry I snapped earlier…" she said finally. "I just got scared…" she looked down. Her parents were out on a date night and weren't going to be home until much later. "How am I going to explain this to Mom and Dad?" she asked, "It's not like we can hide this…"

Sam and Tucker looked down in thought, but didn't know how they could lie about this either. "Well- Acid's knocked him out before." Tucker said, "And they know that Danny does some ghost-hunting on his own with us. Maybe just a hunting trip gone wrong?"

Jazz considered it for a while. Then she finally sighed, "It'll have to do…" she pulled out her phone and got ready to dial her mom. As she pulled up her number in her contacts, she was interrupted by an incoming call. She rolled her eyes, "Hello?" she answered. The voice on the other end made her quickly realize that she should start saving that particular number. "What!?" she gasped.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, seeing the horror on Jazz's face, "Y-Yeah, I'll be right over…" Jazz hung up, her hands were shaking now.

"What is it?" Tucker asked.

"That was Hazel's dad… Hazel got attacked too. He needs help." She said, "Tucker, you come with me. Sam, you stay here and watch over Danny, okay?"

Sam nodded, "Got it."

Jazz led Tucker down to her car and quickly drove to Hazel's apartment. After walking into the front door, Jazz called out, "Mr. Richards?" she called out.

"U-up here! We're upstairs!" he called back.

Jazz and Tucker both ran upstairs and found one of the bedroom doors opened with the doorknob lying on the floor in several pieces, as though the door was locked and someone took apart the lock just to get in. They stepped into the room and gasped upon seeing Kurt holding his son closely with a large bone blade protruding from his stomach. Jazz's stomach twisted. Hazel was paler- much paler than he already was. Blood dripped from his mouth and from the injury in his stomach. Jazz took a deep breath, "A-Acid did this?"

Kurt nodded. He knew that he was the only on aware of Hazel's ghost powers, and respected the fact that Hazel would prefer to keep it that way.

"U-um…" she took a deep breath. "Calling an ambulance would pretty much turn him over to the police, wouldn't it?"

He nodded, "I don't have anything here to help him…" his eyes watered and he hugged Hazel again carefully. He was also aware that Hazel did this to himself. Why he did it, however, he didn't know.

"Do you have bedsheets?" Tucker asked and knelt by them.

"Uh- one. I have one." Kurt nodded.

"Where?" Jazz asked.

"Living room." Kurt answered quickly.

Jazz jumped and ran downstairs.

"Does the bone go all the way through?" Tucker asked.

"No- just into his stomach." Kurt shook his head, carefully brushing back Hazel's hair.

Jazz quickly returned with the bedsheet Kurt had mention, "Lay him down." She said. "Tucker, let's get the bone out and we'll wrap him up with this." She instructed and began tearing the bedsheet into strips.

Kurt carefully took hold of the bone with Tucker and counted to three before pulling it out quickly.

"Kurt, sit him up." Jazz commanded.

Kurt carefully sat up Hazel and let Jazz pull up his shirt, she flinched upon seeing several other scars decorating the teen's abdomen. She shook her head and started wrapping up the wound with strips of the bedsheet. "D-does this happen often?" she asked.

"Not really…" Kurt shook his head, he was being honest, but he didn't really want to tell the truth as to where the rest came from.

"Danny just got attack by Acid too." Jazz said, "Acid was going to kill him. But… apparently he stopped himself and ran away before anything else happened."

"Really?" Kurt looked up at her. Then looked back at Hazel. Knowing his son, he'd black out with rage and try to kill whoever upset him, Danny must've fallen victim to Hazel's rage and Hazel realized he was about to kill Danny. Now his suicide attempt made sense. He did this out of guilt.

"Acid seems to be a lot more aggressive lately…" Tucker pointed out.

Jazz nodded and tied off the temporary bandages, "We'll take him back to my place." She said, "My parents should be able to help him out a little better there." She said.

"Let me help you get him to the car." Kurt stood up and carefully picked up Hazel.

On the drive back to Fenton Works, Jazz and Tucker remained silent.

"Did you see-?"

"I did…" Jazz nodded.

"They… don't just stop at his arms…" Tucker looked down.

She shook her head and wiped her eyes, "They don't…" her voice cracked.

He leaned over and looked at her, "Are you crying?"

She took a deep breath, "I'm okay." She shook her head, "I need to talk to my parents about Acid. He's dangerous… he's gonna hurt more people." She said.

"What do you think Danny's been trying to do?" Tucker shrugged, "But every time he picks a fight, he gets his butt kicked."

Jazz sighed and pulled into the driveway, "We'll just let Mom and Dad handle it…" she parked the car, "But for right now, let's just get Hazel inside. Get him taken care of… maybe he'll explain more when he wakes up." She said.

Tucker opened the door to Hazel's side of the car, "From the looks of his stomach- it's more like 'if' he wakes up."

"It's 'when'." Jazz argued.

"Okay…" Tucker flinched and carefully pulled Hazel out of the car, he noticed he was really light and fairly cold. He was barely able to feel his heartbeat. He took a deep breath and carried him inside. His body ran cold when he saw Jack and Maddie's van sitting in the driveway. He and Jazz exchanged nervous glances before stepping inside and setting Hazel on the couch.

"Jasmine!" Maddie's panicked voice called from upstairs, followed by rapid footsteps, "What happened to your-" she froze upon seeing Hazel on the couch, "Brothers?" she gasped, "He looks worse than Danny!" she rushed downstairs, "What happened to them?"

"It was Acid." Jazz said, "That green, fiery ghost?"

Maddie growled, "Sam calls us and told us that Danny and Hazel got hurt."

"And it was by Acid." Jazz said. "There were bone spikes- I saw them!"

"Jasmine." Jack came down the stairs, "You're going to help me track down this ghost, so we can get rid of him once and for all. I can't have Danny come home looking like that anymore."

Jazz nodded, "I'm sure we can use the ectoplasmic signature off of one of the bones that he shot. Let me show you." She quickly led Jack out of the house.

Maddie watched them leave. She sighed and lifted Hazel's shirt to see the bandages. She grew horrified after seeing that this certainly wasn't Hazel's first life-threatening injury.

"I wonder what Acid has against Danny and Hazel…" Tucker looked down.

"Were these all from Acid?" she asked.

"We think so." Tucker sunk, "His dad said that this doesn't happen very often."

Maddie growled, "And this was an attack from _Acid_ and not his _father_?" she verified.

Tucker nodded, "His dad can't create bones like that."

Maddie thought for a long time. "Tucker?" she asked, "Do you ever see Acid and Hazel's father in the same place?"

"I rarely see either of them." He answered honestly, then it hit him as to where she was going with her question. He gasped, "Kurt _is_ Acid…"

"That does it." Maddie stood straight up and went down to the lab, leaving Tucker alone in the living room with Hazel. She popped her head back out, "I'm sorry, sweetie, you can come with if you want."

"I'm good, Mrs. Fenton." He said and stayed where he was. After she vanished into the lab, he quickly got up and ran upstairs to check on Danny and Sam.

Danny's bedroom door was cracked open just a little. He carefully pushed the door open, "How's he doing?" Tucker asked.

"I'm up." Danny's voice answered, "Just come in."

Tucker walked into the room. Sam sat on the bed next to Danny, "How are you feeling?"

"Acid attacked Hazel too?" Danny asked, a tone of aggravation was clear in his voice.

"Your mom thinks it might be Hazel's dad." Tucker said, "Maybe Kurt's a halfa."

Danny thought about this for a while, "It all makes sense." He shook his head, "No- that's not right. Hazel's had to take care of his dad after an attack from Acid. He used the same procedure that he did on me."

"The same procedure used on his dad? Or the same used on him?" Sam asked, "Hazel's not exactly the most honest person we know. He's lied to protect his dad."

"And it's not like he's gonna tell that his dad's a ghost to the son of a family of ghost-hunters." Tucker said.

Danny nodded, "True." He shook his head, "It all makes sense. He's attacked Hazel before, several times. He's attacked me- I don't think Hazel's dad likes me."

Sam held up Danny's injured hand, "You think?"

Danny took his hand back and looked at his palm, "I really hope this heals…" he said.

"It'll take a while- maybe." Tucker shrugged.

"It hurts just to move my finger…"

"Well- your dad just left with Jazz so they can track down Acid." Sam said.

"And your mom's in the lab getting ready to go after him." Tucker added.

Danny nodded, "So… what happened to Hazel?" he looked up at Tucker.

Tucker looked down, "He's in worse shape than you, buddy, I'll say that much."

"That bad?"

"You know that bone? The big one Acid was gonna kill you with?"

Danny nodded.

"We found another one about that size in Hazel's stomach." He said. He was unconscious when we found him and has been since."

There was a clatter downstairs followed by a pained yelp.

"Are you sure?" Danny asked.

Tucker jumped up and ran downstairs, finding that Hazel was no longer on the couch. He went to the kitchen where the clatter had come from. There stood Maddie, helping Hazel stand up straight.

"What are you doing up? Are you okay?" she asked.

Hazel stayed quiet, his eyes were squeezed shut, one hand pressed to his stomach, the other holding onto the counter. His eyebrows were pulled together as he took deep, heavy breaths. After a long moment of silence, he nodded "I'm alright…" he took a deep breath, "I accidentally bumped the counter." He admitted. He looked down at the floor, "Sorry…" he apologized and knelt to pick up pieces of the glass he dropped that had broken.

"No, no, no, no- you're going to lie back down." Maddie made him stand back up. "Tucker, get him back on the couch." She instructed and went to grab a broom.

Hazel waved Tucker's hand away, "I'll be fine." He said and started back to the living room. As he rounded the corner, he stumbled and fell to his knees, groaning in pain.

Tucker was standing behind him, "You sure?" he asked. Behind him, Maddie was sweeping up the broken glass.

Tucker knelt by Hazel, "Let me help you up." He grabbed his arm and helped him stand.

Once Hazel was on his feet, he stood for a moment and grabbed the wall for support.

"Ready to get to the couch?" Tucker asked.

Instead of an answer, Hazel shook his head and coughed hard into his hand, finding small spots of blood in his palm.

"You can trust me." He said, "I won't drop you or anything, if that's what you're worried about…"

Hazel froze, with his long, straight, black hair, it was difficult to see what kind of expression he wore. He clenched both hands into fists and shook slightly.

"You know you can." Tucker said as reassurance.

Hazel nodded, "I-I know…" he finally forced out.

Tucker pulled Hazel's arm over his shoulders, "Come on, you shouldn't even be up." He carefully walked Hazel to the couch and sat him down. Hazel kept his head down, letting his hair cover his face. Tucker sighed, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" Hazel said emotionlessly.

Tucker tilted his head, then he rolled his eyes and went upstairs. "Sam, Haze's hiding something, Jazz isn't here, so you should go talk to him." He said flatly.

Danny and Sam looked up at Tucker, than back to each other. Sam stood up and started downstairs. She saw Hazel sit on the couch, fiddling with his hands as though he was nervous about something. She sat on her knees in front of him, "Hazel?" she asked with concern.

He avoided eye contact with her.

Sam made him look up at her and brushed his hair out of his face, "What's wrong?"

Hazel shook his head and looked back down, not wanting to tell the truth of what was really going through his mind.

"Hazel." Sam forced him to look up at her, his hardened, tired, yet soft hazel eyes nervously looked up at her. "What's wrong?"

Hazel sighed, "Tucker… earlier said that I can trust him." He started.

"Well- you can." She said, seeming somewhat skeptical.

"No- know I can." He said, "But… h-how can you guys be so sure you can trust me?" he said.

She stared at him for a while "W-what makes you ask that?"

"Vlad Masters just threatened me to either bring in Danny or he'll turn in me and my dad." He explained, "What makes you so sure that I'm not going to protect myself and my dad?"

Sam sank and looked down, "We're not…" she said sadly. "We're scared that you'd hand over Danny." She then gave him a cold look, "Which _will not_ happen without a fight, by the way."

Hazel flinched and nodded.

She sighed, "But we don't want you to get turned in to the police." She leaned forward and hesitantly hugged him, waiting to be rejected of a hug. But Hazel sat and let her do it. He didn't return the hug, but he didn't fight her. "We worry about you."

Hazel felt as though a brick settled itself in his chest. It was then that he _prayed_ that they didn't find out who Acid really was.

 _You shouldn't trust me…_

*So… one more third person POV until I go back to first person. Unless you guys think it's better off this way? I dunno. I like it in Hazel's view… we'll see. Leave a review with some feedback and any questions you may have. Thanks for reading and remember to stay awesome, folks!*


	9. Chapter 9

The following day in class, Sam and Tucker sat quietly and waited for everything to begin. Bleu sat and glanced at the two empty seats where Hazel and Danny normally sat. She looked up at them, "Where's Hazel and Danny?" she asked.

"They- uh…" Tucker looked over at Sam, "They were attacked by a ghost last night." He kept his voice low, "Danny's parents are ghost hunters and sometimes he goes by himself."

Bleu nodded, "Is he okay?"

"Danny will be okay." Sam said, "Hazel's a little more questionable though." She said, "The ghost that attacked them was Acid. You ever see a ghost with a skull for a head and green flames?"

Bleu gasped, "Yeah! I saw him last night! He…" she looked down, "That's weird, he saved me last night from a gang trying to mug me." She said. "But… then he was attacked by another ghost-" she paused and leaned toward them, "Is Danny a ghost?" she asked.

The two froze, "What made you come to _that_ conclusion?" Sam asked.

"Well- the ghost that attacked him after that looked exactly like Danny. And it would only make sense, they had the same voice, and if Danny was hurt by that ghost, then it adds up." She explained.

Sam and Tucker looked at each other. "Okay, okay, just don't tell anybody." Sam said.

"I promise." Bleu 'zipped' her lips. "So… what about Hazel?"

Tucker and Sam looked down, "We don't know exactly. We thought that Acid is really Hazel's dad, but apparently that's wrong. None of the ghost equipment they used actually registers with him."

Tucker nodded, "We're at a dead end. We picked him up from his dad's place and he was stabbed straight through his stomach."

Bleu's eyes widened, "Poor guy." she sympathized, "Um… you guys are going to go check on them after school, right?"

"Of course." Sam nodded.

Bleu twiddled her fingers, "Is it okay if I come too?" she asked. "I don't have any plans and since you guys told me about Hazel, I…" she blushed slightly, "I worry about him now."

"Uh, sure. You can come along." They nodded.

The bell rang loudly, indicating that class was finally beginning.

Back at Fenton works. Hazel laid on the couch glaring at the ceiling, wishing that he'd be successful for once. Danny was upstairs with three stab wounds because of him. The fact that he eventually aimed to kill him made him want to leave more than anything. But he couldn't walk more than five feet without falling over. He didn't even want to _try_ flying. At the moment, Jack and Maddie were over at Kurt's apartment trying to get some sort of answer out of him as to what happened to his son and apologizing for attacking him with ghost-hunting equipment.

Jazz was in the kitchen cooking something for him and Danny to eat. Hazel wasn't hungry. He never was after an injury like this. She was still trying to figure out why the signature on her father's equipment was locking on to Hazel, but she figured that it was because he was attacked by Acid that it locked onto him, because it locked onto Danny too. She served the two bowls of soup and took one to Hazel first, since he was the closest. "Here, eat up." She smiled and set the bowl down, helping him sit up since it proved to be an issue. "After this we'll change your bandages."

Hazel rolled his eyes and remained silent. After Jazz left the room, Hazel stared at the bowl of soup and debated whether or not to eat it. He grunted and grabbed his stomach. He took a moment and waited until the wave of pain subsided. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was walking on a fine line. They were bound to figure out who Acid was. He leaned forward and held his head, scared of what would happened to him then. God forbid that Danny found out first.

"You okay?" Jazz walked back into the room and asked.

"Headache." Hazel lied.

Jazz stared at him for a while, "Makes sense… you lost a lot of blood." She said and looked at the bowl of soup. "Come on, Hazel, eat." She nudged the bowl of soup to him, "You need to eat something. I even made something that would… hopefully be easier on your stomach." She insisted.

Hazel looked down, "I'm not hungry…" he muttered.

She sat down next to him, "You're what?"

"Not hungry…"

She frowned, "You should at least eat something. You don't even have to finish it."

"Honestly, I feel like throwing up." He said and grabbed his stomach.

"Oh! Uh- do you want me to get you to the bathroom?" she asked.

"Maybe…" he breathed.

She sank and thought for a while, "Well- let me change your bandages, okay?"

He sighed, "Fine." He thought for a while, he wasn't sure if Danny would've been in school. He'd ask, but it'd be strange to Jazz because as far as she's concerned, he never knew Danny even got hurt. There'd be no reason if it'd be questionable unless he knew something. He decided to keep his mouth shut.

Jazz stood up, "Let me go grab the first-aid." She said and walked out of the room.

Hazel sighed and closed his eyes in frustration. He was terrified of Jazz seeing his scars if she hadn't already. He didn't want her to ask about how they happened, he couldn't remember half of them. It wasn't that he lost his memory at one point, but he just had too many he forgot a few over time. Cuts, stab wounds, bullet wounds- there were too many. He took a deep breath, feeling a few of the scars running over his side. He heard Jazz return and pulled his hand away. With both in silence, he allowed her to change his bandages.

As Jazz carefully cleaned and redressed Hazel's injury, she did what she could to avoid each of his scars, almost sickened with how young he was and with how many he had. One scar looked as though his side had been ripped open. She was almost afraid to ask how that happened. She glanced up at Hazel's face and sank. He avoided eye contact with her, in fact he did everything he could to look away from her.

She finally sighed, breaking the silence, "How did all of this happen?" she asked.

He was silent, refusing to answer.

"Hazel?"

He sighed, "Some of them I can't even remember…" he said.

"What about this big one on your side?" she asked. "This… tear- whatever this is?"

Hazel thought for a while, "I was hit by a car…" he said.

She rose her eyebrows, "You got _this_ from a car?" she asked, then she shook her head, "No- I don't believe it."

"You don't believe me?" Hazel asked firmly, almost growled.

She looked at him, "Well- it-"

"It was a Jeep with one of those reels of cables on the front." He snapped. Though he had been hit by a car once or twice, that wasn't where that particular injury came from… it was from ghost hunters when he visited Colorado. Of course he wasn't going to tell her that.

"Okay, okay." She flinched, "Your… self-inflictions don't stop at your arms, don't they?" she asked.

Hazel sunk, "N-no… they don't…" he sighed, "Some of these are from me…" he confessed. He might as well own up to a few of the scars if he had to lie about a few of the others.

She sighed, "You're staying here."

"Duh…"

Jazz glared at him, "You're not leaving the house alone- if you do- someone goes with you. No exceptions."

He sighed, "Fine…"

"And no more going to see Kurt."

Hazel pulled her hands away from his stomach, "Tell me to keep company, that's fine." He started firmly, growling with his statement, "But forbidding me from seeing the only member of my family I have left- then there's gonna be a problem."

"Hazel Richards, don't snap at me- I'm only trying to protect you." Jazz snapped back, her tone only grew angry with Hazel's comment. "I don't want you coming back home looking like this, and I don't want it to be because of your father. Stay _away_ from him, do you understand me?"

Hazel flinched, looking at her with widened hazel eyes, "Y-yes, Jazz…" he looked down.

Jazz sighed and relaxed, finishing taking care of his stomach, "We'll get you a new shirt- this one's crusted in blood…" she said, holding the shirt she had to remove in order to take care of him. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. I'm just scared…" she sighed, "Danny's hurt and-"

"Danny's hurt?" Hazel asked, playing oblivious, "What happened?"

"Acid attacked him and almost killed him." She said darkly, "He can't walk or use his right hand at all." She explained, "He threw those bones at him and hit in three different places- the other being his shoulder." She sighed, "Anyway- Mom considers you to be mine and Danny's brother. I-" she sighed, "I just want to make sure you're safe…" she hugged him.

He froze and tensed up, not sure as to what to do with her hug.

"Call me overprotective, or overbearing, or even annoying… but never forget that I'm always worrying about you and Danny." She whispered.

Hazel's eyes began to water, heating up with a mix of emotions. He hadn't had this feeling since he was twelve- before his mother died. Hesitantly, he lifted his arms to return the hug- but paused, remembering what he had done to her brother. Instead, he dropped his arms and buried his face into her shoulders.

"Are you crying?" she asked.

"No…" his voice cracked

She pulled away from him and looked him in the eye, "What's wrong?"

He managed a weak chuckle, "You'll think it's stupid…"

She shook her head, "Of course not- just tell me."

He wiped his eye, "I- uh…" he sniffled, "I just wish my mom was here…"

She sighed and hugged him, "It's not stupid at all…" she reassured him. Unintentionally, she kissed him on the head, "Let me go find you a shirt."

He looked up at her in shock.

It took her a moment to realize why he looked at her like that. She turned red, "You know I meant that in a 'family' way, right?"

He leaned away from her, "Sure…"

She sighed and walked away awkwardly, "I'm gonna… take care of Danny…" she mumbled as she began climbing the stairs. Hazel sighed and rolled over, pulling the blanket over him and grunting in pain from twisting his stomach. It wasn't long after when he heard Sam and Tucker walk into the house with someone else. "There's Hazel…" Sam said, pointing to his bundled figure on the couch. "We're gonna go upstairs to see Danny." She said.

"Okay." Bleu nodded and sat beside Hazel.

Hazel turned briefly to look at her, "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Same reason as Sam and Tucker…" she shrugged.

"Checking on Danny?" he asked, "He's upstairs." He returned to his previous position.

"I know." Bleu glanced up at the stairs, "I'm here to check on you." She said.

"Why?"

His curt response made her flinch slightly. Then she frowned, "Because ever since the others told me about you, I've gotten worried." She looked down, "Besides… I think you're kinda cool…"

Hazel blushed, however, he was thankful the comforter he was using covered part of his face. "How so?"

She shrugged, "I dunno… you're… kind of a badass."

Hazel rolled his eyes, "Bleu, you don't know me… I am by _no_ means, a badass…" he said flatly.

"But- Hazel, that's the honesty that does it." She said, "You-"

Hazel sat up and yanked the blanket off of his body, showing Bleu his scarred torso, shoulders and arms, "Half of these scars are by my own hand." He snapped, "Find a famous badass that hurts himself intentionally out of depression, then come talk to me."

She gasped upon seeing the scars. "Oh my…" she breathed and ran her fingers over a few of the scars. She hugged him and almost knocked him back.

This wasn't the response he was expecting, but he should've seen it coming. He sighed and just accepted the hug.

She finally let him go and looked at the bandages that wrapped around his stomach, covering the wound in his side, "So… Acid did this?" she asked.

He nodded, "Y-yeah…"

She tilted her head, "Is he… good? Or evil?" she asked. "Because he saved me last night…" she said.

Hazel shrugged, "Maybe he's trying to be the good guy… but…" he trailed off, "Everything he does looks bad?"

She pondered the thought for a while. "Oh- uh…" she reached into her bag, "Some guy gave this to me this morning and asked me to give it to you. Might be your dad?" she pulled out an envelope.

Hazel opened the envelope and read the letter inside, his eyebrows pulling together in focus, then his eyes widening.

"What's wrong?" Bleu asked.

Hazel dropped the letter and envelope in his lap and buried his head in his hands, "It's a long story- I'd rather not talk about it…" he sighed.

She couldn't help but to glance at the page, something about Daniel, Kurt Richards, the police, and an address. She drew her eyes away from the paper and looked at Hazel. "You gonna be okay?" she asked.

He shook his head, "No, not really."

*Um… so… yeah- there's that. No actual comment here… back to first-person next chapter! Reviews please! Stay awesome!*


	10. Chapter 10

*Back to first-person! I think it kinda vital to the plotline, or whatever… sorry it's been a while since I've last updated, but… stress, drama, crap like that. Having a hard time over here. Anyway, on with the show!*

It had been a few days since my… failed suicide attempt. On days when I'm resting, Sam and Tucker would come and visit me and Danny. They'd tell me that they came across my dad and he always asked about how I'm doing and how my injury was. Finally, I was okay enough to walk around… at least in my opinion. Jazz keeps getting pissed that I get up and walk around the house and even tried going to school. I win most of those arguments, others I end up not feeling good and sometimes even throw up. So… Jazz wins those. But this time- Jazz went out for a job interview, so I can get up without her getting onto my ass about trying to recover. I decided to go out to check on my dad and to let him know I was okay. Talk to him and explain… He's the only one that knew I tried to end it. Danny doesn't know, Sam, Tucker, Jazz…

Not even Bleu… I got to know her a lot over the past few days, she had just moved to Amity Park from California. Her parents got a good job opportunity here and decided it was a good idea to accept it. Apparently Bleu didn't have any friends in Cali and was usually picked on by all of her bitchy classmates. And she doesn't fight, so she ends up letting them pick on her. As opposed to me- I'll punch somebody in the face if they try hitting on me, thinking I'm a girl. And I've fought people because they picked on me because of my dad. People have quickly learned that they shouldn't mess with me. I rarely lost a fight.

I finally reached the front door to my dad's apartment and walked in. "Dad? I'm back!" I announced, "I wanted to talk to you about what happened." I sighed and listened for a moment, hearing no responses. "Dad?" I called out again. I rolled my eyes and figured he was asleep… maybe. I wandered through the apartment and looked around for him. I sighed after finding the place was empty, "Probably at work…" I declared.

As I passed the kitchen, I heard something fall behind me- a piece of paper. In response, I whipped around with green flames in my hands ready to attack. I found nothing. I sighed and put out the flames, picking up the fallen page and looking over it, double-checking what it was because- honestly, I couldn't remember if I left my dad a note. Or maybe it was a grocery list and I was just paranoid.

It was neither of those things… honestly, I would've preferred a suicide note over what this paper said.

 _I'll just have to take Fenton myself, then._

That was all the piece of paper said. I heart began pounding in my ears. That son of a bitch took my dad and was still going after Danny… I dug around in my pockets and looked for the note that Bleu brought me from Vlad. I remembered that at one point he had an address written down someplace. As soon as I found it on the page, I changed forms and flew in that direction, however, I didn't get to leave the block, much less town. Danny managed to pull himself out of bed and go out flying. And as soon as he saw me, he was _pissed_. I'd never seen that kid so angry before. He was looking for a fight and I knew it. I stopped in my tracks, frozen. I didn't want to hurt him again. I shook my head, "Not in the mood, kid." I tried to fly around him, quickly covering my stomach with my cloak

"Not in the mood?!" he growled, "Who are you going after now?!" he demanded, "My sister? My parents? Hazel and I weren't enough?"

"I'm not after anyone, now back off." I growled, "I don't wanna fight you." I tried moving around him again, but again- he got in front of me. "Listen- if you must know; I'm doing you a favor and getting rid of Vlad before he finally comes to capture you and hurts Kurt."

Danny paused, "Wait- how do you-"

"It doesn't matter how I know about all of that- but get out of my way." I growled and finally got around him.

"I'm not done with you!" Danny growled and hit me with an ice-covered fist, knocking me off-course for a moment. I pulled my cloak around my stomach, keeping my bandages hidden. I flew faster, determined to lose him. I ducked and weaved between buildings, hoping to shake Fenton off my tail, but he wasn't letting up. I finally turned the corner and checked behind me, finding that Danny was nowhere to be found. I let out a sigh of relief and looked forward.

This happened too quickly for me to process, but Danny was actually in front of me. He had gone invisible and waited in front of me. When I got close enough, he became visible again and was holding a baseball bat with a green label- something I thought was Jazz's. With a powerful swing, he managed to hit me in the face and send me crashing to the ground. It took me a minute to recover and figure out what was going on. I pushed myself to my hands and knees and held my forehead. This was it…

I was gonna blow my cover…

Danny approached me, I looked up and tried focusing my vision on him. He got right in front of me and held up the bat.

I flinched, "Fenton, stop!" I yelled.

He paused, "Fenton- how do you- who are you?" he growled, "You're not just a ghost too, aren't you?" he lowered the bat.

I looked at him fearfully, "I-I'm sorry, Danny…" I looked down. Though I was only staring at the asphalt below me, I could tell he was confused.

He took a moment to finally speak again, "Wait- your stomach…" he commented, "You're not…?" he breathed and took a step back.

I closed my eyes and let the flames engulf me, changing me back to my feminine, human self.

I heard him drop the baseball bat, shocked with what had just happened, "H-Hazel…" he stammered, "Y-Y-You're Acid?!" his tone changed, "Wait… you tried to kill me!" he quickly went from shocked to furious.

"I didn't mean to!" I defended myself, but this wasn't ending well, "I lost my temper! I black out when I lose my temper. I only stopped myself because I realized that I was about to kill one of my only friends." I looked down, still sitting on the ground, "I went home after that and faked an 'Acid attack' because of all of the shit that's been going on." I confessed, "Only my dad knows I tried killing myself again and I haven't even gotten the chance to talk to him about it." I explained, "I'm sorry…" I began to sob.

He knelt down next to me, "I… I'm so confused… why were you terrorizing people?"

"I never was!" I snapped, "I was just flying one night. You know- just moved to the neighborhood, I wanted to explore town. But people got scared and that's when you showed up… everything I did was to protect myself…" I wiped my eyes.

He kept opening his mouth to speak, clearly he was still processing, "Wait- so you used your own powers to try to…" he apparently had a difficult time saying it.

"Yes, I tried to kill myself, the night I could've killed you." I buried my head in my hands, "I'm a horrible friend…" I whispered. "I couldn't handle the thought…"

I sensed him looking at me.

"You've been nothing but nice to me. You've been nothing but nice to me, but in turn, I almost killed you." I sighed, "I'm not coming back to the house… aren't I?" I looked up and him hesitantly, seeing that he was on his phone as his human half. "Danny?" I asked after he didn't answer me, "What are you doing?"

"I'm calling Bleu…" he said, "In order for _me_ to process what I just saw, I'm gonna need you to stay somewhere else…" he held the phone up to his ear. He stood up and began pacing.

I felt something trickle along the side of my nose. I wiped the side of my nose and found blood. It didn't surprise me- Danny hit me pretty hard with the bat. It only made sense that my forehead was bleeding. I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face in my arms, barely able to hear Danny talking to Bleu over the phone. Eventually, he walked back up to me, "Get up, Bleu's going to come pick you up at my place." He said emotionlessly. "We're walking." He declared.

I nodded silently and followed him. He walked in front of me, where I noticed he was still limping. His right hand still wrapped in bandages and under the collar of his shirt, I saw he wore bandages on his left shoulder. I sank and looked down.

He grunted and fell to the right, raising his arm so his elbow caught him against the wall. "I shouldn't be out of bed…" I heard him mutter and continued walking.

I felt hesitant to ask, but I offered anyway, "So you want me to fly you home? It'll be easier on your leg…"

"We're _walking_." He repeated firmly.

"Well, do you at least need some-"

"Hazel."

I instantly shut my mouth. I was going to offer to support him on the way back. "Just trying to help…" I muttered.

It wasn't long until we reached his place. There, I packed my homework and everything else into my backpack and sat on the couch where I waited for Bleu. Danny quickly explained to his parents that Bleu offered for me to stay at her place and didn't say anything about his discovery of my powers. Jazz was skeptic about the whole thing. No doubt he was going to tell her, and Sam, and Tucker. I'll tell Bleu if he hasn't told her already.

Before long, there was a knock on the door. Sure enough, it was Bleu coming to take me home with her. Nothing much at all was said, except a small thank you before I was ushered out the door and into her car. The drive was quiet. She kept shooting glances at me. I was going to assume that Danny _did_ tell her, but she was still trying to process. But then she finally spoke. "What did you do? Why is he so upset?" she asked.

I sank, holding my backpack close to my chest like it was the only thing I had left.

"Hazel?" she asked.

I looked away, then I shook my head, "I…" I sighed, "He didn't tell you?"

Bleu shook her head, "He just said to come get you and have you stay with me while he processes what just happened. What happened?" she asked.

I sighed and held out my hand, barely flickering the green flames in my palm. She gasped as she glanced over. "I am Acid…" I confessed.

It took her a while to think about what she just saw and heard. "Wait-" she shook her head in bewilderment. "But Acid is-" she started, "He tried to- He attacked you, though, how it that-" it finally hit her. "I'm going to slap you when we get out of the car." She said firmly.

I got confused, I won't lie. Probably because it occurred to her that I could've killed Danny, or that I never told anyone before… I wasn't sure, but… Honestly, I think I deserve it anyway.

Once we finally got out of the car, she went around the front to reach me and, as she said, she slapped me. My face stung and I'm pretty sure my cheek was bright red, "Suicide isn't an option, Hazel. You have several decades ahead of you and who knows, everything will turn around!" she snapped at me, "You have so many people who care about you and you're just going to leave them? What about your dad? Jazz and the others?"

I wanted to argue about Jazz, Danny and everyone else, because I was pretty sure that we weren't going to get along after that. I looked down, "My dad is the only one…" I barely said, "And the others aren't going to like me after what just happened…"

Bleu paused.

"Nobody cares about me except for my dad… I figured that out a long time ago and I've come to terms with it." I said, "Why should I worry about people who don't give a shit in the long run?"

"I care about you."

I looked up at her, then shook my head, almost laughing.

"I'm serious." Bleu stepped in front of me.

"And so am I." I looked at her sincerely. "I've never told anyone this: but when people found out I was a guy and not a girl, and that my dad's on drugs, and they find out that my last shower was probably three weeks ago, they had literally told me to go kill myself…" I growled, "Sometimes, it's after someone had told me that they cared about me." I said, " _This_ is why I don't trust people. _This_ is why I don't even _try_ to make friends. _This_ is why people shouldn't trust me." I dropped my bag to my feet and grabbed my head, "I was _better_ off alone… Better off…" I sighed, "Better off dead…" Suddenly, years of ridicule and bullying rushed through my body and forced their way out of my chest. I sat down against the side of the car and buried my face, crying like the damn girl I was. "And now my dad's missing and I just lost a few of my only friends." I sobbed. I never bring that up, nor do I like to think about it. I didn't bring it up before for a reason. This was exactly it.

I felt her sit next to me at one point. She wrapped one arm around my shoulders and made me lean towards her. "You don't know if you lost them." She said, "And we'll find your dad, I promise..." then she moved to kneel in front of me, "Look at me." She suggested.

I kept my head buried in my arms.

"Hazel?" she called and moved my arms away. I didn't fight her. I just opened my eyes and looked at her.

"Things may seem bad now…" she said, "But please, believe me when I say this, everything will be okay. I promise." She leaned forward and planted a small kiss on my forehead, "I will help you fight through this, okay?"

I don't know why, but the kiss made me stop crying. I… was more shocked and confused than anything… but some part of me was intrigued.

She wiped the tears from my eyes, "You have a lot of potential, Hazel. You're only seventeen, a lot can turn for the better." she said, gently holding my face in her hands.

"And what if they don't?" I asked, "What if things only get worse from here on?"

She looked at me for a good, long while. She gently pulled me forward and let our lips touch. My heart began pounding, I became short of breath, I wanted to pull away, but I found myself giving in. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around her. I'm not one to really care about anything like that, but that was my first kiss, and it lasted a long time. That was probably the best feeling I've ever had in my entire life.

She finally separated herself from me, looking me in the eye and brushing my hair back, "Does that answer your question?" she asked.

It took me a second to catch my breath and start seeing straight again.

"Hey- what's going on out here?" a woman called, snapping me back to reality. I backed away from Bleu- as much as I could, anyway. I was still sitting against her Impala. She stood up, "Hi Mom!" she greeted innocently.

The woman came around to the other side of the car where she could see me, "Who's this?" she gasped and knelt by me before Bleu had the chance to answer, "What happened to her head?"

Bleu paused, "Yeah- what _did_ happen?" She looked at me.

Her mother was trying to clean up my forehead from the blood. I tried getting away, but again- the Impala… I stammered, but decided to go with the half-assed truth, "I got hit by a baseball bat…" I started, then I sighed, "It's a long story, I don't wanna get into it…"

"Miscommunication with Danny?" Bleu asked.

"Sure…" I looked down.

"Oh- get in a fight with your boyfriend?" her mother asked.

I waved hands quickly, "He's not my boyfriend, we're not dating." I quickly rejected the possibility, "I'm not even seeing anyone."

"Uh- Mom? This is Hazel." Bleu finally introduced.

Her mom turned red, "Oh, goodness, _this_ is Hazel!" she confirmed, "The boy you told me about who gets mistaken for a girl." She hugged me, "I'm so sorry! That must've been so awkward!"

I shrugged, "Kinda used to it…"

"Well, first, you need a haircut." She said, "Or did you mean to grow it out?"

The thing with my hair- I don't care how it is. The only reason it's stayed long for as long as it has, was that we never had an electric razor, never had the money to get me to a barber, and neither me or my dad have the skill to cut hair and not fuck it up. The Fentons have offered to take me to a barber. The same barber Jack and Danny go to apparently. I kept telling them not to worry about it. "I- I don't care either way."

"My sister goes to beauty school!" Bleu pointed out, "If you wanna cut it, we can ask her." She grinned, "She'll do it only for the experience. She won't charge." She ran her finger through her short hair, "She did mine." She beamed.

"Well, let's get his head taken care of." She said and helped me up.

"I need to find my dad…" I shook my head and wiped off a small trickle of blood that made its way around my nose.

"Did he go missing?" Her mother asked.

"He was captured." I answered.

"Call the police." She said simply. "You can use the phone inside."

I shook my head, "He's wanted by the police…" I argued.

She sighed, "Better to call them and know where he is than to not know where he is in general." She stated, "Wait- what is he wanted for?"

"Drugs…" I said, "He's been affiliated with too many big drug busts across the country."

The two nodded and looked at each other, "No… death penalties waiting for him… right?"

I scoffed, "Of course not, he's never killed anybody." I sighed, "Just… He's always managed to escape whenever the police got involved…"

The Stevens nodded and finally ushered me inside. There, Bleu's mother sat me down, had me tie back my hair and cleaned off my forehead. She showed me a hand mirror and let me check my reflection, who I saw… wasn't me. I hardly recognized myself. And it wasn't even the massive bruise one my forehead, or the cut in the center of that. Not even the band-aid that had been taken off of my left cheek a long time ago, the bags under my eyes, or the fact that I didn't have hair draped over the right side of my face. I looked… like… I don't even know how to describe it. My eyes were open, I wasn't glaring at the mirror like I normally do. I looked as though I was more relaxed, and not so fucking stressed out. I still didn't like the bruise though… it only reminded me about how much I pissed off Danny… I turned the mirror away and handed it to Bleu's mother.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"Um…" I sighed, "I'd rather not get into it…" I said. "It's too long of a story." I shook my head, "I'm sorry, I never caught your name."

"Michelle." She answered with a a smile that closely resembled Bleu's. Then her expression changed to be more serious, "Let's get you some band-aids…" she reached into a small box and pulled out two large band-aids, carefully sticking them to my forehead in an 'x' pattern. "There…" she began putting everything away, "Well, while Bleu is talking to Mykenna about your hair, let's see if we can't call the police about your dad… okay?"

"That'd be great…" I sighed. "Thank you…"

Michelle reached into her pocket and dug out her cell phone. After she punched in the number into the key pad, she handed me the phone. "There you go…"

I took a deep breath and held up the phone to my ear.

"Amity Park police." The woman on the other end answered.

"Um… My dad went missing..." I started. "I uh…"

"You wanted to call in and report a missing person?" she answered.

"Well- the thing is-"

"What does your dad look like?"

"Uh- brown eyes, faded blonde hair… he's pretty skinny, about six-foot-two-" I started describing Dad as best as I could, but then she cut me off.

"Would this happen to be Kurt Richards?" she asked.

My body froze, "Y-yes, ma'am…" I barely voiced the response.

"Kurt Richards was found tied up and unconscious this morning at our front door. He was arrested and we are processing his paperwork now."

I let out a deep breath.

"You do realize that he was a wanted criminal, right, ma'am?"

"I do…" I looked down, "Is… is there any way I can see him?" I asked, knowing it was a long shot.

There was silence on the other end for a while.

"Please?" I asked. At the moment I had completely forgotten that Michelle was still sitting in front of me. "I just need to talk to him… I wanted to make sure he's okay… I was scared that… y-know with…"

"I understand, ma'am… let me see what I can do for you. Please hold…" she said, then was followed by a long pause.

After Michelle noticed my long moment of silence, she gave me a curious look, "Everything okay?"

I shrugged, "She put me on hold. She's going to go see if I'm able to come visit my dad…"

She nodded.

"Ma'am, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here…"

"Okay, so you are Kurt's daughter, right?"

I rolled my eyes, "I'm his son." I said, "But… don't worry, I get a lot of people confused…"

"I apologize for that." She seemed to sigh on the other end, "I spoke with my supervisor and they are not allowing _any_ visitors to come see Kurt. I did the best I could…"

My eyes watered as I squeezed them shut.

"Hello?"

"I'm here…" my voice broke.

"I'm so sorry, sir…" she apologized, "I really did what I could. But he is alive, and he is safe. Are you a minor?" she asked, "Under the age of eighteen?"

"Yeah…" I nodded, "I'm seventeen."

"Okay, do you have any family or relatives here you can stay with?"

"I'm staying with my friends…" I wiped my eyes, "Um… I've been staying with them more than I was with my dad lately…"

"Alright then, that's fine. I will be able to deliver him a message, if you'd like. Is there anything you want me to tell him?" she offered.

"Tell him that I'm okay, and that I love him… and that I'm sorry…"

**Okay, so this chapter was longer than anticipated, but a good majority of this needed to be covered. Reviews, please? I hope this didn't come out too rushed… but let me know! Stay awesome, guys!**


	11. Chapter 11

Mykenna sat me down and brushed my hair after I got off the phone with the police. At least my dad was safe… now all I had to worry about was to make sure Danny was okay.

"Are you sure you want to cut this?" Mykenna asked after gently

I nodded, "Might as well…" I heard her pick up a pair of scissors and snip them a couple of times.

"Here goes…" she grabbed my hair and made it a ponytail, cutting it as short as she could without cutting herself. When the cut was done, my head felt lighter. I felt the back of my head and my hair felt _weird_ … she showed me the ponytail and I swear the length was probably more than half a foot long. I only nodded and allowed for her to continue. "How short did you want this?"

"Shorter than Bleu's…" I answered her.

"Alright then." Mykenna had a smile in her voice as she cut my hair. I think it had been about… seven or eight years since it was last cut… wait- no, Mom would've had it cut, she didn't like it when my hair got too long. So… six years ago at best maybe. I closed my eyes and let her play with my hair, finally listening to her take an electric razor to it. As it scraped the sides of my head and the back of my neck a few times, I had flashbacks of when Mom cut my hair. I always hated the razor, but she always managed to make it… okay? Or even bearable to allow? I don't know how to put it… all through my childhood up until she died she told me to pretend it was a few bees tickling me. And for some reason, that worked. She knew I had a fascination with bugs at one point. I managed a smile, thinking about the fact that I used to fight getting my hair cut, but my mom made a compromise and got me to calm down.

Mykenna finally ran a comb through my hair, which at first I thought it was her fingers. "You're done." I opened my eyes and looked down at the floor, seeing the little black trimmings everywhere and even on my shoulders. Everything was itchy. I remember that was something I hated about haircuts. I stood up, allowing more of the trimmings to fall off of my shirt.

She escorted me to the nearest bathroom and let me look in the mirror. I was practically speechless- I actually looked like a guy now. My ears were visible, my face wasn't hidden, I could actually see that I had a tiny scar on my forehead, of course away from the band-aids and the large bruise swelling on my forehead. I smiled.

"You like it?" she asked.

"I love it, thank you…" I turned and hugged her.

She hugged me back, "Anytime, Haze…" she pat my back, "Now go hop in the shower so you can get those scraps washed off.

I nodded, then paused.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"No change of clothes…" I sighed, "The hair's still gonna be in my clothes…"

Mykenna thought for a while. "Just go take your shower, take as long as you want, and we'll have a change of clothes for you."

I nodded, "Alright…" then I paused again, "You guys don't have to-"

"We insist." She smiled, "Now go. Towels should already be in there."

I sighed, "Alright…" I finally complied. I stepped into the bathroom and closed the door, immediately pulling off my shirt. It was relieving after the itchy hair pieces left my shoulders and back. I looked down at my stomach and remembered that I needed to remove the bandages around my stomach. Carefully I peeled the gauze off my stomach. But even though I was careful, it still stung my injury. I couldn't exactly say that I looked better, but… I don't know… I just ignored staring at I and slipped off my jeans and boxers, stepping into the shower finally after taking off the band-aids off my forehead. I turned on the water and allowed it to run warmly down my back.

I stood there for… I dunno, about ten minutes? I finally tipped my head back and brushed through my hair, thrown off by how quickly my fingers went through it. But it felt nice. It was going to be a lot easier to take care of. The warm water made my forehead and back throb though because of the broken skin. I didn't want to know how my stomach was. But regardless, I turned around and faced the showerhead anyway. My stomach hurt more than my back and head, enough to make me back away from the water and turn down the heat at least. I took a deep breath and stepped back into the water.

I looked over at the shelf and found a brand-new bar of soap still in the box, next to another, barely used bar of soap. I wouldn't have thought much of it, if the box didn't have my name on it. But it did, so I opened the box and rubbed my body with the new bar of soap. I then lathered it in my hands, set it down, and scrubbed my face, being gentle with my forehead. After I rinsed off my face, I went and lathered the bar in my hands again, running my hands through my hair, this time. I know- you're not supposed to use soap for you hair, but I didn't care at the moment. I'd rather get a job and buy my own hair crap than to use up someone else's without their permission. But it did the same thing to me, so whatever. I rinsed out my hair and decided to suck it up and turn up the heat on the water just a little bit. Eventually, the wounds just became tolerant to the warm water. I turned my back against the water again and closed my eyes, folding my hands against the back of my neck.

Eventually I turned off the water and stepped out to grab a towel, wrapping it around my waist and checking myself in the mirror. People were going to have a hard time calling me a girl at school tomorrow. Then it occurred to me… I had to go back to school- Danny was going to be there. I took a deep breath, only hoping that he wouldn't be holding a grudge against me. But I wouldn't blame him if he did… I dried my hair, my shoulders and legs, looking over to see a pile of neatly folded clothes. My old clothes were completely gone. I completely froze, realizing that someone had gone into the bathroom while I was still showering. My face turned red. I grabbed a pair of boxers first and pulled them on, pulling on a pair of pajama pants afterwards. After throwing on a shirt, I hung up the towel on the curtain rod and stepped out, looking down the hall, "Hello?" I called.

"We're in the living room, Hazel, come in and join us!" Bleu called out.

I started down the hall hesitantly and met with the Bleu and the rest of her family. Bleu grew a huge smile, "Oh, your hair looks so good!" she cheered.

"You really cleaned him up." Michelle smiled with approval.

Mykenna smiled, "It does look good, Hazel. It suits you a little better."

I blushed and managed a nervous smile. "Uh- w-who went into the bathroom while I was showering?" I asked.

"Geronimo." Bleu said, "Uh- one of my brothers."

This was news to me. I didn't even know Bleu had a sister much less multiple brothers.

"Are you hungry?" Michelle asked.

I nodded sheepishly, "Y-yeah."

"Well, come to the kitchen. My husband should have dinner ready already." She smiled and stood up from the couch.

I felt more comfortable with this family than any other family I'd been staying with. Even Danny's family. But… then again, I probably pissed them off real bad. Bleu's parents were really nice and even sympathized with what was going on. But… they don't know I'm Acid. I can't tell Bleu's identical twin brothers apart- at all. One's Geronimo, the other is Corey. She only had three siblings, which only made her one out of four.

"So do you have any siblings?" They asked.

I looked up at them, then I looked at Bleu, who had obviously never told them. "No." I said plainly. "My dad's sobriety was so screwed up when I was born that my mom wanted to wait until he was sober before having another kid." I looked down, "But uh… I'm never getting a sibling."

"Because he still isn't sober?" the father, Patrick, asked.

I glanced up at Bleu. She cleared her throat. "His mom, uh… passed away." She said.

The table grew quiet.

"What happened?" Geronimo- or Corey asked, leaning forward to listen.

"Let's not make him go into it." Michelle said.

"It's been years. I've recovered… I can talk about it." I said, "It-it's okay…" I said.

"Are you sure?" she asked me.

I nodded, "My dad got my mom into some drug. She uh… lost a game of Russian Roulette…" I said, "She shot herself in the head… that's all I know. My dad won't tell me anything else." I explained.

The family was in shock. I avoided eye contact with everyone. Mykenna, who sat on my left, leaned over and gave me a hug. After that, dinner was finished in silence. Nothing much really happened after that that was really worth noting, so…

The next day at school was awkward. Of course I had to go to class, and take my seat next to Danny, who still had his hand bandaged. I avoided eye contact with him, and I think he avoided it, too. Tucker and Sam refused to look at me, so surely they knew. All I could do was sink in my seat with guilt. Bleu sat behind me, unsure as to what to do or say to ease the tension. The when the class started, the teacher walked in and looked at me strangely. "Hazel?"

I nodded.

He blinked and shook his head, "Wow, barely recognized you. You cut your hair and…" he took a moment, "Got a new shirt?"

I nodded again.

He nodded, then shook his head, "I'm not even gonna ask about your forehead." He said and went to his desk.

"Hazel…" someone whispered from my immediate right. I glanced over and saw Danny leaning toward me. "Meet me behind the cafeteria at lunch, okay? I need to talk to you."

So he was at least on speaking terms with me. That's good. I nodded, "Okay." I whispered back. I grew nervous. Danny didn't seem like he was in the mood for anything. It didn't take very long for class to go by and for lunch to arrive. Bleu stayed by my side the whole time. I walked out to the courtyard with her and stopped, "I'm- uh… I'm gonna go meet with Danny now…" I told her.

She gave me an unsure look, "Good luck." She said.

"Thanks." I sighed and walked off and behind the cafeteria. There, I plopped myself down and retrieved a cigarette from my bag. Fortunately I had grabbed my dad's stash before I left the apartment. I lit the cigarette and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes for a moment and exhaled a large puff of smoke. I opened my eyes and heard someone walking up to me. I quickly put the cigarette out and hid it.

Danny sat down next to me. His bandaged hand supporting him as he sat down. He took a deep breath and kept his eyes closed.

I opened my mouth to speak, but quickly he rose his hand, "Not a word." He said flatly.

I held my breath, but slowly let it out.

"I thought about what happened yesterday." He said. "And… debated on whether or not to forgive you…" he sighed.

I listened carefully.

"I'll be honest, "I'm furious. I… was furious…" he said, finally opening his eyes and looking at the ground in front of him. "I almost settling with not even giving a shit anymore." He said, "But… Sam and Tucker talked me out of holding a grudge. They're right, _you_ were right… All those fights between us were my fault. I…" he sighed, "I thought I was protecting people, but… it turned out that I was attacking someone that needed the protection. I can't think of a single occasion where you actually tried hurting someone without reason. The only time you hurt someone was to protect yourself. That night that this happened," he held up his right hand, "I pissed you off… you had every reason to be mad."

I sank and looked down. "Danny, it was because of those incidents that I was terrified to tell you. I wanted to confess, but I was scared that you'd…" I sighed, "I dunno… hate me… you're the first friend I've had in years. Since I moved out of Arizona, at least… I was so scared of losing that… Like I said, it's why I tried killing myself that night. I was so stressed out. I almost killed you, I had to choose between turning in my dad or handing you over to Vlad, and of course I didn't want to do either. Then-"

"Hazel." Danny finally looked at me. "The point is… I'm not mad anymore… I had it coming." He laughed, "I'm bull-headed sometimes, I get it from my dad." He said.

I chuckled, "That's alright, I'm half-pushover bitch, half-scrappy motherfucker that doesn't give a shit."

"Which half are you right now?" Danny smiled and asked.

"I feel like a pushover bitch right now." I said. "But, hey- I got my hair cut." I said.

"Yeah, it looks good." He complimented. "Didn't recognize you when you walked into class. But then I saw the bruise and scab on your forehead and did a double-take."

I smiled, "Yeah, you hit me pretty hard."

"Makes us even, I guess." He held up his bandaged hand and formed as much of a fist as it'll let him.

I bumped his fist carefully with mine, "Even." I smiled, "Thank you…"

**So this one was kinda random. Lemme know what you think! Stay awesome folks!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Back to third-person! Otherwise this chapter won't make any sense. Enjoy!**

As school got out, Hazel met with Bleu, who hadn't spoken to him since his private conversation with Danny.

"So how'd it go?" she asked.

Hazel finally came to a stop in front of her locker, "Good." He smiled, "He isn't mad anymore." He took a deep breath, "Still friends."

"That's good." She smiled, "So he forgave you for the whole Acid thing?"

Hazel nodded and started walking with her down the hall.

Bleu smiled, "Good." She felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled out the phone and checked it, "Oh- Mom's gonna give you the guest bedroom and wants to know if you have a color preference."

Hazel gave her an odd look, "Uh- no… th-thank you though…" he smiled, "Any color is fine, really."

Bleu smiled and wrapped one arm around his shoulders, "Welcome to the family, Hazel."

"Thank you…" he smiled.

They finally walked outside and started to walk towards the car, which was parked along the backside of the school. Behind them, their shadows seemed more prominent and irregular than they should've been.

"How's your head?" she asked.

Hazel barely felt his forehead, "Sore." He said. He glanced over and looked at her, rubbing the back of his neck, "What's up?"

She stared behind them, mainly staring at the ground, "Do our shadows… look different?" she asked.

He furrowed his eyebrows and studied the shadows carefully. "Danny?" he called.

"Danny?" Bleu looked at him.

"There's a ghost somewhere around here…" he said, "I know there is- my neck only feels this way when there is…" he said, "Very funny, Danny." He said flatly.

"If it's a ghost in general… when how do you know it's Danny specifically?" she asked.

"Because it's not a hundred-percent ghost aura I'm sensing…" he said, thinking of a different possibility, but doubting that would be the case. He took a deep breath, "Let's just go…" he sighed and kept walking.

Bleu nodded, but trailed behind. "S-So your ghost sense… is that- what's it do exactly?"

"The back of my neck tingles…" Hazel answered and continued rubbing the back of his neck. "I think since I have hallucination powers, it plays of the paranormal sense of paranoia." He said. "It'd make sense- I guess since Danny's got ice powers, and he's got the ghost sense where he sees his breath. So… I almost wanna say the… icy hand of death? And who knows what other ghost senses are there and what they can represent." He said, "It's actually amazing." A small smile grew on his face. After hearing no responses from Bleu, he finally turned around, "You o-" he froze, finding he was now alone. "Bleu!?" he called and looked around. He turned around again, "Hey- where'd you go?" he asked. He slapped the back of his neck in response to his ghost sense. Suddenly his ghost sense was overwhelming. He shuddered and turned around, almost jumping. "V-Vlad..." he breathed, then snarled, "Where's Bleu, you son of a bitch!?" he growled and clenched his fists. His eyes glared at the tall, white-dressed man in front of him.

Vlad scoffed, "Surely with the kind of information you were feeding that girl, she must've gotten bored and left." He shrugged, hardly even trying to lie.

"Where is she!?" Hazel threw a punch, but easily missed as Vlad only leaned to one side and let him miss.

"Calm down, Raven- she's not in any danger." He shrugged, "Not that you should really care anyway." He said casually, "Who should trust you? Who _can_ trust you?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" Hazel growled.

"Hazel Richards. You're the son of Kurt Richards, the man who has notoriously escaped the police because of his half-ghost son, who's… probably used his powers to bail him out of drug busts and police-infested areas." He applauded sarcastically, "Congratulations, you've helped your father become a fugitive." He said. "That makes you a criminal, doesn't it? And your awful smoking habits. That's not legal." He said.

"That's none of your business." Hazel growled. "Get to the point."

"It matters since I'm the mayor of this godforsaken place full of thick-headed idiots who hasn't even figured out Fenton's identity. And honestly, even _I_ feel stupid for not getting it." He growled. "But- my point is… you've doomed your father to a long time in _prison_. You. The one member of his family he had left. The _only_ person he could trust, and you landed him in prison." He stated, "Danny. The one person you could trust, and you almost _killed_ him. He trusted you and you _betrayed_ his trust and beat the boy senseless and thought nothing more of it."

"You're _wrong_!" Hazel snarled.

"Tell me I'm wrong again!" Vlad snapped and whipped around to face him, "Every person you've met, you've ended up hurting! Danny, Sam, Tucker, Jazz, your father…how long will it be until you've hurt Bleu, too, huh?"

Hazel flinched, "No, wait- I've never hurt Sam, Tucker or Jazz." He argued.

"Maybe not physically." Vlad said, "Pain is more than just a physical infliction. You of all people should know _that_. They know, Hazel. They know you tried to kill Danny. And they almost didn't forgive you for it."

"That's none of your business!" Hazel tried throwing another punch.

The fanged halfa dodged the punch, "And face it, Hazel Richards, you can't trust anyone either." Vlad taunted, "Do you really think the Stevens can trust you as quickly as they did? Enough to let you just _have_ your own room in their home? Who's to say you won't be back out on the street again because they decided you can't be trusted? Daniel kicked you out of his house, too."

Hazel looked down, "But…"

"You're being _used_ , Richards." Vlad said darkly. "They don't _trust_ you. And I know that you don't trust _them_."

"Th-that's not true!" Hazel snapped, "They're the first people in a long time that I've been able to trust!"

"For how long?" Vlad asked honestly. "Don't you think you should take them out, before they get to you?" he asked and held out his hand. "Join with me, Hazel J. Richards, and I promise, you'll never be homeless again. You'll never be abused. Never be ignored. Hurt. Alone. Starved. You'll be happy again."

Hazel thought heavily about the things that Vlad had said, taking into consideration that there had always been some sort of pattern. He sighed. "I _am_ happy." He said. He looked up and looked Vlad in the eye, "And if I get let down again, then so be it. I've been through heartbreak before." Then he growled, "But as far as trust goes, give me one damn good, moral reason, as to why I should be able to trust you." He smirked, his expression turned dark and almost vicious, "Because as far as I'm concerned… you're full of more _shit_ than _anyone_ else I've ever met. More fucking sleazy, scamming, scandalous, sketchy, venomous, than a fucking _drug dealer_." He growled.

Vlad began laughing. "Quite the mouth you've got on you." He retreated his hand to behind his back again. "You kiss your mother with that mouth?" he asked, then tilted his head to the side mockingly, "Oh right. She put a bullet in her head, didn't she?"

Hazel snarled, "Leave her out of this!" he roared and charged at him, missing once again as Vlad dodged.

Vlad pulled out a small, taser-like gadget and jabbed the crackling device into Hazel's lower back. He then grabbed the shouting teen by the back of his shirt and punched him in the stomach, hard enough to break open the stitches on the preexisting wounds. Hazel growled and tried to spark a hallucinating flame in his hand, but only feeling a dull throb instead. He looked up at Vlad in fear. He brought up a knee instead, but was hit again by the strange device and shocked. Vlad then kicked Hazel's stomach with his knee and pinned him against the wall by his throat. "You have given me _no_ other _options_." He growled. He tightened his grip on the gagging teen and threw him to the side, allowing him to crash to the ground.

Hazel took a deep breath and coughed, spitting blood into his hand. He glanced down at his stomach, finding his brand-new grey shirt starting to turn red. He forced himself to his hands and knees, "What… what options?" he asked, "Of capturing Danny?" he then chuckled darkly, "I'd rather die than to hurt him again." He groaned and struggled to keep his balance.

"That can be arranged." Vlad smirked and teleported closer to Hazel and punched him in the stomach, causing him to stagger backward and fall. "But I'm not done with you." He said, venom present in his voice. He picked up Hazel by his throat once more and held him close to his face, "You just happen to be _too_ valuable." He smirked, "Daniel doesn't trust me…" his smirk turned into a fanged sneer, "But he'll trust you." His body changed into a pink vapor-like mist and absorbed into the center of Hazel's chest, taking full control of his body.

Hazel's body crashed to the ground, eyes squeezed shut in pain, fists clenched and breaths heavy and shaky. As his trembling came to a stop, his eyes opened. Instead of their famous hazel color that the boy was named after, they were now a bright crimson. "Come on…" he growled to himself and forced himself onto his hands and knees. "We seem to be bleeding out, Richards…" he panted, but managed a weak smirk, "We should go find help, shouldn't we?" his eyes flickered to hazel and he grabbed his head, "N-No…" he growled and stumbled, bumping against the wall.

"Uh-uh…" his eyes turned red, "You'll die otherwise, Hazel…" he regained his balance and kept walking. He took deep breath and started toward the front of the school, eventually coming across the inseparable trio that he hoped to find. "Danny!" he called out, "Guys! Help…" he groaned and fell to the ground, squeezing his eyes shut in pain.

Danny, Sam and Tucker all rushed to Hazel's side, "Oh my g- what happened?" Sam gasped.

"Th-the wound…" Hazel panted, "I got into a fight. He hit my stomach and ripped the stitches…" he coughed, then groaned and grabbed his head in response to Hazel trying to regain control.

"Hazel? What's wrong? Did you hit your head too?" Danny asked. He looked around, "You guys, run and grab help." He looked up at Sam and Tucker, "The school nurses should still be working."

Sam pat Tucker's shoulder, "Come on." They got up and ran off.

Hazel opened one eye, fighting to stay gold, "R-run…" he pleaded, then he squeezed his eyes shut, "Get away from me…" he groaned. "While you have the chance…" he forced out.

Danny looked at Hazel strangely, "What are you talking about?" he asked. When Hazel opened his eyes again he backed away slightly, "Wait- why are your eyes red?" he asked.

The pink vapor rose from Hazel's chest and loomed over Danny.

"Run…" Hazel coughed weakly before closing eyes.

Danny glanced down at Hazel, then looked back up and made eye contact with Hazel's attacker. "Vlad?" he backed away and quickly scrambled to his feet.

Vlad quickly lunged forward and used the same weapon against Danny, shocking him to the core and causing him to scream. After Danny dropped to the ground, motionless but trembling.

Vlad picked up Danny and lifted him onto his shoulder. "Perfect." He said and looked down at Hazel for a moment, observing the pool of blood beginning to form under him. He turned and took off.

As Sam and Tucker rushed to the nurse's office, they came across Bleu in the hallway. "Hey- where are you guys going?" she asked.

"Hazel's hurt. We gotta go get the nurse." They answered in a panic.

Bleu froze, "I- I was just with him!" she gasped, "Then suddenly I went through a wall and I ended up in a classroom." she said, then she shook her head. "Where is he? Is he alone?"

Tucker shook his head, "Danny's with him now. They're in the courtyard." He answered, "You go meet with them, we'll get help."

Bleu nodded and began running, as did Sam and Tucker.

As Bleu reached Hazel outside, she gasped at his crumpled state on the ground. Then she looked around in a panic, "D-Danny?!" she called, then she knelt by Hazel's side. "Hazel?" she gently shook his shoulder, then carefully rolled him to his back to see the injury. "Oh my god…" she pulled out her phone.

Hazel took a deep breath and coughed before anything else was done.

Bleu jumped. "Hazel, oh thank god, you're alive." Bleu breathed. "I'm calling 9-1-1, you're gonna be okay."

"Where's…" he grabbed Bleu's phone and put it down, "Where's Danny?" he asked. "V-Vlad…" he coughed, spraying blood from his mouth.

"What?" she asked, "Wh-what about Vlad?"

"H-He over-shadowed me…" he gasped then tried forcing himself up, "Danny needs help…" he grunted.

"No!" Bleu carefully laid him back down, "You're hurt, we need to get you to a hospital."

"Call Sam and Tucker… Jazz… Maybe his parents." He shook his head and forced himself back up. "Danny's in trouble." His arm gave way, allowing him to fall a little. He shook his head and tried changing forms, "Call them!" he commanded, finally having the green flames cover his body and change him to Acid. He took off and looked around, finally taking off in a specific direction.

Bleu dialed Sam.

 _Hello? Hey- is he alright? The nurse's office is closed, they're already gone._

"D-Danny's gone." Bleu hesitated in saying.

 _What?!_

 _What's wrong?_ Tucker's voice asked distantly on the other line.

 _Danny's not there._ Sam answered, _Where is he?_

"I don't know. But Hazel took off after them…"

 _After_ them _? Who else was there?_

"Hazel said something about Vlad over-shadowing him. Said that Danny needed help." She pinched the bridge of her nose. I know which way he went, you guys come out here and we'll chase them in the car."

There was a pause. _We're coming now. Be there in a sec._ she said hurriedly and hung up.

Acid flew close behind Vlad, teleporting every so often to try and keep up. He groaned and held his stomach, "That son of a bitch…" he cursed, teleporting once more after losing speed. "Vlad! You cowardly bastard!" he barked, catching the vampire-like halfa's attention, "What? You're gonna beat the shit out of me and not finish the job?" he asked, growling and holding his hands out to the side.

Vlad scoffed, landing on the roof, "I don't _need_ to kill you." He said, "I just needed to get you out of the way."

Acid scoffed and then chuckled, "Pussy." He taunted, "Even a drug dealer knows how to deal with a witness." He smirked, only running on adrenaline at this point, "Say I survive all this." He gestured to his stomach, "Who's to say I won't go to Fenton's parents about this? Or better yet- the police."

Vlad laughed loudly, "Child- I _own_ the police!" he announced, "You think a simple bribe won't stop them?"

"And what if it doesn't and you're wrong?" Acid asked, "Be the type of man you claim to be…" he held out his arms, "And kill me now." He said, "Don't think I won't expose you. And if you do kill me, Sam and Tucker would expose you for the cold, cruel, kid-murdering, cock-head you are."

Vlad growled, "Your harsh words are really starting to get to me, Richards." Vlad growled, lowering Danny on the rooftop he stood on.

Barely conscious, Danny had been listening to Acid's argument. 'What are you doing, you idiot? You're gonna get yourself killed…' he thought, 'You're in bad enough shape…'

"Wow." Acid responded sarcastically to Vlad setting down Danny, "Letting go of your precious cargo? I thought you were hell-bent on capturing him!" he called out. "Man…" he laughed, "You're even stupider than I thought you were."

"I'm gonna need both hands to make sure you _stay_ down this time!" Vlad vanished in a small, pink swirl.

Hazel thought quick and vanished in the toxic vapors, trading Vlad spaces and getting closer to Danny. He quickly picked him up and put him over his shoulder, staggering slightly. He turned to Vlad who hovered and looked around confused. "Not the only one with that ability, loser!" he barked.

Vlad turned around in shock.

"Au revoir." Acid saluted him before vanishing in the yellow-green mist. Reappearing finally in a storage where Acid was able to set Danny down, "You okay?"

Danny groaned and shook his head, not being used to being teleported in Acid's mists, "Are _you_ okay? And do you realize what you've done?"

"Hey, I just saved your ass- the least you can do is-" he grunted and grabbed his stomach, the adrenaline fading and forcing him back to his human form. He dropped to his hands and knees and coughed violently, hacking up blood into his palm.

"Hazel- you need help. You need to go to the hospital." Danny grabbed his shoulders.

"I'm not done with that son of a bitch just yet." Hazel growled, forcing his ghost half back. He paused before leaving. "My name…" he sighed, "My real name…"

Danny froze, "Wait- what?" his heart began pounding in fear.

"It's James." He said before vanishing.

**I reaaallly like the way this chapter came out. This was supposed to be the last chapter, but that build-up took way longer than expected. I decided to end it there with Haze's real name kind of as an epic, kind of emotional cliffhanger. The story behind his name: Hazel's mom and dad argued about his name when he was born. Kurt wanted to name him James after _his_ father, whereas Hazel's mom (whose name escapes me) wanted to name him after his eyes. They finally settled on naming Hazel 'James', but kept 'Hazel' as a middle name. So they both won. However, after Hazel's mother died, they adopted Hazel as a first name and left James as a middle name in her memory. Hazel had kept it secret that Hazel wasn't really his first name, but… someone had to know, right? I hope you like this chapter, because I was even sucked into writing this with how intense it got. Please leave a review, guys. Stay awesome folks!**


	13. Chapter 13

Danny beat his fists into the brick wall keeping him inside the storage room, "Hazel! Hazel! Get back here!" he yelled. He pressed his body against the wall of the building and tried phasing through. "Dammit- Hazel!" he roared. He closed his eyes and fell to his knees, resting his forehead on the wall. "You idiot…" he breathed. He glared at the wall in front of him. He pulled back his fist to ready a punch, but stopped as his phone began buzzing in his pocket. He dug out the phone and checked the caller ID, seeing that it was Sam. "Sam!" he answered. "It's-"

 _"_ _Danny! Thank god! Where are you?"_ Sam interrupted him, _"We see Vlad, but you're not with him?"_

"Is Hazel out there?" Danny asked. "He just left to go after Vlad! He's gonna get himself killed!"

 _"_ _We don't see him anywhere. In fact, Vlad seems to be looking around for something. Where are you?"_

Danny looked around, "Some storage room, or something. I can't go intangible, Vlad shorted out my powers."

 _"_ _Great."_ Sam said sarcastically, _"Well, get out of there. And figure out where you are outside. We'll meet with you. We called your parents."_

"Okay." Danny confirmed, almost tempted to argue, but decided it was for the better that they got involved. "I'll call you when I figure things out." He said and hung up, trying against the wall again, but having no luck. He rolled his eyes and tried the door. As the door opened, he was met with several pairs of eyes that looked at him strangely. He glanced around and realized he was in a video game store.

"Kid, what were you doing back there?" one of the clerks asked.

Danny turned red, "It's a long story…" he sheepishly stepped out of the storage room and closed the door behind him. "Ignore me…" he awkwardly walked out of the store, "Nothing to see…"

When he finally got outside, he dialed Sam and checked the skies, "Okay, Sam, I was in The Game Bunker." He informed her.

 _"_ _We just passed that. We'll meet you outside."_

"Alright-" Danny jumped as a van swerved in front of him, narrowly missing him. "Mom and Dad are here." He said and hung up.

Jazz jumped out of the back of the van and hugged Danny, "Are you okay?" she grabbed each side of his face and turned him side to side. "Where is he?" she asked.

Maddie rushed to Danny and hugged him, "Are you hurt?" she asked.

"No." Danny shook them off, "Guys, Vlad is the Wisconsin Ghost." He said.

"What?!" Maddie shrieked.

Jazz kept her mouth shut, knowing this beforehand.

"Nonsense, Danny." Jack said, "Vlad can't possibly be-" A beam of pink plasma hit the van and caused for it to blow the engine. Jack flinched and covered the family. "What the-"

Vlad emerged from the flames, eyes locked on Danny, "So this is where he hid you?" he growled.

Danny fought his father's grip and ran down the street.

Jazz reached over and grabbed Maddie's weapon, "Leave him alone, Masters!" she growled.

The older couple looked at their children in shock, then up at Vlad, who laughed mockingly, "Or what, Jasmine? You'll shoot your father's idol?" he asked.

"Don't tempt me." She growled.

Vlad chuckled, "You're mildly amusing, child." He teleported and punched the weapon out of her hands. He then grabbed her by her collar and held her up.

Maddie lunged forward to attack, but was knocked back by a duplicate of their attacker.

Danny rushed in as his ghost half and hit the duplicate with an ice beam, tearing the real Vlad away from his sister. "This has gone far enough." He punched him, "This isn't about them, so leave them out of this!" he snarled.

Vlad nursed his jaw, "Very well, _Fenton_ …" he growled, "Let's finish this." He vanished in the pink swirl.

Danny flew off and chased after where he saw him reappear.

"Jazz?" Jack knelt to help his daughter stand, "What were they talking about?" he asked.

Maddie grabbed her shoulders, "Where's your brother? Why did that _ghost_ \- why did _Vlad_ call the ghost boy 'Fenton'?" she asked in a panic.

A grey Impala pulled up next to the family. Sam, Tucker, and Bleu all jumped out of the vehicle and looked around, "Where's Danny?" Sam and Tucker asked.

"Where is Hazel?" Bleu asked, her eyes watering.

Jazz trembled and shook her head, "I don't know where Hazel is. Danny was by himself when we found him." She answered Bleu. Then she sighed, "Danny just took off after Vlad."

Her parents gasped in surprise. "You mean that ghost-"

"Is Danny, yes." Jazz squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. "When he was fourteen, three years ago- he went into your guys' ghost portal and accidently activated it." She said, "Well, when it turned on, it shocked him with ghost DNA and turned him into the Ghost Boy you two were obsessed with hunting." She explained. She looked at Bleu, "I thought you were keeping track with Hazel."

"We found hazel after school bleeding out." Sam spoke before Bleu.

"He said he was attacked by Vlad and was overshadowed to get closer to Danny." Bleu said. "He's in serious trouble if we don't find him quick."

Jazz shook her head and looked up at the family's burning van, "Dad, do you think there's ghost-tracking equipment in there?" she asked. "Anything that's intact?"

Jack took a moment to process everything that had just happened. He blinked and turned to the van. "Yeah… it's just the front of the van. I'll get it, nobody get close." He went to the van and searched for everything that _wouldn't_ hurt a ghost and set it outside of the van. "It wouldn't hurt to test out a few of these weapons anyway.

"Jack!" Maddie snapped, "We are _not_ hurting our son!"

"I never said it had to be on Danny…" he checked one of the basters. He turned and handed it to Maddie. "Here you go, Babe…" he picked up a few detector panels. They had silver edging and transparent green screens. He handed them each to Sam, Tucker, Jazz and Bleu, "These are new." He said, "They visually lock onto a ghost's ectoplasmic signature and shows you how far they are and what they are doing. It even shows through walls. So you can see their silhouettes even through two, five, ten, even fifty buildings. Their ranges go as far as maybe about two or three miles." He explained, "They are glass, so don't drop them." He said and went back to the van, retrieving a few thermoses, "You know how to use these?" he asked Sam, Tucker, and Bleu.

"Yeah," Sam and Tucker nodded. "We help Danny ghost hunt all the time." Tucker said and strapped it over his shoulder.

Jack paused, almost touched that Danny used his own father's inventions to ghost hunt behind his back. But then hurt that Danny used his own father's inventions to ghost hunt behind his back and not trust him to tell him that he was half-ghost. He shook his head, "Bleu?"

"I don't." she shook her head.

"We'll show her." Sam volunteered.

"Thank you, Sam." He turned and handed them each a small blaster. "Only on Vlad." He said. "Shoot if you need to." He instructed.

The four children prepared themselves and looked at each other.

"Sam and Bleu, you two go look for Hazel." Jazz instructed. "Tucker, my parents and I will go help Danny."

Sam and Bleu nodded and jumped into the car while the other ran into action. The girls buckled in their seatbelts and drove off, Sam holding her ghost-detecting tablet in front of her and looking around. "How exactly will this show us Hazel and not some ghost?"

Bleu took a deep breath, "He's… he's probably lying down…" she said sadly, "Check the ground area."

Sam looked at Bleu, then lowered her gaze.

Danny flipped around and crash-landed into a building. He shook his head and got back up, throwing up a quick shield so he wasn't hit by Vlad's punch. Before Vlad's punch hit the shield, he teleported behind Danny and prepared another punch. Danny quickly turned around and vanished in a small flurry of ice crystals. Vlad paused with confusion, then he growled while searching the area, "What's the matter, Daniel?" he asked, still having a ghost sense and knowing Danny was still close by, "Don't you want to come visit your Uncle Vlad?" he asked.

Danny reappeared and punched him, "You are _not_ my uncle!" he growled, "You are _not_ my family, you're _not_ my dad, not my friend, and not worth my time." He growled with every punch.

Vlad caught Danny's wrist and grabbed the collar of his shirt, "I'm hurt, Daniel, after all I've done for you."

Danny quickly brought a knee up to kick Vlad's stomach, "What have you done for me besides manipulate my friends and piss off my family?" he asked.

Vlad threw Danny back through the building and landed in front of him, "Who have I mani- Oh! Richards?" he chuckled darkly, "You call a brash, emotional, lashing-out wreck like that a friend?" he asked, "Didn't he try to kill you?"

"But he didn't." Danny forced himself up, "And with that logic you even _bothered_ calling yourself my uncle? A member of my family?" he asked, "Do you realize just how stupid you sound?"

"Family is forgivable." Vlad stated. "You can forgive family."

Danny couldn't help but to laugh, "You're digging even deeper." He growled, shooting an ice beam at Vlad and vanishing as Vlad went to deflect the attack. He whipped around, and received a boot to his face, "You would've forgiven my dad for the ghost portal incident." He growled and stepped back. "That's the difference between you and me." He said, "Dad shocked you with a portal by accident and apologized for it. Since then he's tried patching things up with you. I can't tell you how many damn headaches Jazz and I get from listening to him go on and on about how awesome he thought you were!" he snapped, "Hazel was only trying to defend himself because _I_ would always start those fights thinking he was a threat! I hit him on the head and pissed him off and he lost control of himself. That's what _I_ get for pissing off a bipolar kid with ghost powers. He _never_ asked for me to forgive him and in fact, I found out that he tried to kill himself." He said, "After I told him that I forgave him, he did everything he could to keep me from you, even if it killed him…" he said.

Vlad rubbed his face for a good while and only listened to the teenager's argument.

"If either of us is the shitty friend- it's me." He said, "I kicked him out of the house that night and made him go stay with someone else… scared that I'd be pissed with him for as long as we'd know each other." He sighed, "Hazel doesn't need that… I'm his first friend in years, and he's even told me that. I was able to get him to relax, to not get tense anytime anyone even _looked_ at him. To get him to even give a shit about his life because…" he shook his head, "I mean- the guy's a month younger than I am… he's got so much to live for, yet he's got so many scars because he doesn't think so." He sighed, then he growled, "And it's because of you, that kid is going to _die_." He snarled.

Vlad was silent, "You're right, Daniel…" he stood up. "What kind of friend am I to loathe your father for an accident? For an injury that he didn't intend?" he rubbed his cheek, a look of pure guilt washing over his face. He looked at Danny sincerely, "Would you ever forgive _me_?" he asked.

Danny looked at him for a while, "Why should I? Give me one _good_ reason. What kind of redeeming factor do you have that would make me want to forgive you?"

"Now, Daniel, don't be a hypocrite." Vlad said.

"There's no hypocrisy here, you son-of-a-bitch, you were _never_ a friend of mine." His eyes turned solid green with no traces of white, "You went and pissed me off by killing Hazel."

Vlad smiled and closed his eyes, "And here I thought I had a change of heart-"

"Can't change what you don't have." Danny crossed his arms, "Besides, even if you did have one, doesn't it only fit my mom and your creepy cat named _after_ my mom?"

Vlad growled and teleported two inches in front of Danny and caught the teen around his throat, "That's quite enough from _you_ , Daniel…" he channeled his ghost energy through his arm and shocked Danny.

Danny roared in pain and fought to keep his human half from taking over. When Vlad finished his ghost-stinger, he threw Danny through the preexisting hole in the wall and sent him crashing to the pavement below. Danny laid on the ground, curling in on himself in pain and twitching every so often.

"Danny!" Jazz gasped and ran to his side.

Tucker glared up at the building where Vlad hovered, "He's still not done."

"Oh my god, is he okay?" Maddie ran over and dropped down to her knees, still having to get used to seeing her son as the ghost boy. "Wh-why is he shaking like that?" she asked in fear.

Jack rushed over, "Danny?"

Jazz carefully picked up Danny and rested him on her lap, "Danny, are you gonna be alright?"

Without a response, two glowing white rings flashed over his body and changing him back to the ordinary human they once knew him to be. He laid fully relaxed in front of them.

Maddie pulled Danny from Jazz's arms and hugged him, "Why didn't he tell us?"

Jack growled and aimed his blaster up at Vlad, "You son of a bitch, you hurt my son!" he barked.

"Did I, Jack?" Vlad duplicated himself once, showing two versions of himself, both identical, one fake. "Would I be the only one to inflict any damage on your punching bag of a son?" he asked, duplicating himself again, having four copies. "And would this be the first time at all that your son has been thrown around, sent through walls, beaten to a pulp? Do you _really_ believes he gets into _that_ many fights at school? Or at the mall?"

Jack lowered his weapon in realization. Danny had been half-ghost for a long time. Three years at least. He shook his head and glared up at Vlad and his clones, trying to identify which one was the real Vlad.

Tucker stood up and shot at each of the Vlad copies he could see, considering that Vlad had duplicated himself some more, there had to have been at least fifty, "Just shoot, Jack!"

Jack nodded and began firing at any Vlad copies he saw. He quickly turned to Maddie, "Get Danny somewhere safe!" he barked. He turned to fire more at the copies, but saw them jump and fly towards him and Tucker.

Jazz and Maddie grabbed Danny and carried him to a pick-up truck with a shell on the bed. Jazz opened the tailgate of the truck and let Maddie set him inside. "Watch your brother." She said before attempting to leave the truck.

"No way, Mom, I'm fighting with you guys." She argued.

"This is bigger than you, Jazz. I don't want you getting hurt." Maddie said firmly.

"This is bigger than you too, Mom. It's bigger than you and Dad." She argued, "It's bigger than even Danny. This whole thing has been on a personal level for… as long as Danny and Vlad have known each other." She said.

"What does Vlad want with your brother? Why is-"

"Vlad wants a son. Danny, specifically. He's obsessed with thinking that Danny would be his perfect son." She explained. "He's trying to clone him, but they're all failing."

Maddie looked at her horrifically, "How do you know this?"

"He told me. He's seen them and they've given him nightmares." She looked down, "I'd get nightmares too if I saw failed clones of myself too…" she shook her head, "Look, I can help you. I've helped Danny hunt ghosts before and even fight some. We can do this."

Maddie looked at her daughter for a while and debated on letting her help. She rolled her eyes, "Fine…" she sighed. "Just make sure he doesn't hit this truck." She said and finally jumped out of the tailgate.

Jazz followed her mother and stood by her, firing at the clones, "Where's Dad and Tucker?" she asked.

Maddie looked around, "I don't know." She said, finding no sign of either of them, "Maybe they went back to the van."

"Vlad would've followed them." Jazz said, then was hit with a plasma blast. She flew backwards and crashed against the ground.

"Jasmine!" Maddie gasped, then she turned and glared at the remaining Vlad that hovered across the street from her, smirking cruelly. Maddie continued to glare death at the man- at the monster that floated before her, taunting her.

"I am sorry you had to see that my dear, but your children truly need some more discipline. But it's no wonder where they get that from." Maddie's glare intensified as his smirk grew, her hand gripping the blaster so hard a slight creak could almost be heard. She quickly took aim at him, rage etched on her face, even as he flew towards her at blinding speeds. Right before he could reach her, she quickly aimed down and shot at the ground, blasting out debris and smoke. Vlad flew through it and expected to have Maddie in his grasp, but what he got instead was an ecto blast to his side as he was sent flying in to a nearby car. He crashed and slid down to the ground, the sudden explosive force hitting him at top speed stunning him. Maddie calmly walked out of the now settled smoke cloud, blaster smoking and still trained on him.

"Never come near my kids and family again!" she yelled in pure fury before blasting the car, blowing it and hopefully Vlad with it. She lowered the blaster and let out a sigh of relief, happy for this to be over. But the relief quickly went away as she had to dive out of the way of an oncoming piece of fiery car. She quickly rolled and recovered only to be met with a black gloved hand back-handing her and sending her across the street. Vlad stood there looking angrier than before, his eyes glowing intensely, even as some flames still clung to his suit. He floated menacingly towards where Maddie crouched on the ground, barely recovering from the hit. She quickly wiped some blood off her lip before reaching for her pouch. But Vlad was quicker. He quickly grabbed her by the neck and raised her high, blue and red burning in to one another.

"All of what I had accomplished in my life was for you, to fill the void that was made when you chose that imbecile over me. Praying that maybe one day, you would open your eyes and see how much better your life would be with me, how much better yours and the children's lives would be. But no matter what, you still chose him. Tell me, why!?" His grip tightened just a little more to entice her to talk. Maddie only glared back as a small choke escaped her lips before speaking.

"You want to know why I chose Jack over you, Fine. First of all, despite his mistakes, he knows exactly who he is and what his mistakes are. He doesn't go around pretending and stealing like some slimy coward! You… only know how to steal, cheat, and lie. You're nothing but a lie, a sad, pathetic lie who can't stop living in the past. He's honest, loyal, and twice the man you could ever dream to be! I love him, and that will never change. I will never love you, no matter what. And like Danny said, you're just a seriously messed-up fruit loop." Maddie had a smile of victory on her face as the pure rage on his face only grew. She used that moment of distraction to quickly pull out her laser lipstick and shoot him point blank in the chest, causing him to drop her. He stumbled back in pain before growling at her, before she could shoot again, he quickly teleported behind her, grabbed her by the arm, picked her up and hurling her at the truck Danny was in. Maddie was barely able to twist her body so that her side took the impact, but it didn't do much. She hit the shell hard, a few cracks and snaps rang out as she screamed in pain before falling limp to the ground.

The noise from the impact startled Danny and woke him, he looked around quickly in a panic and gathered that he was inside the back of a stationary truck with a shell. The shell had windows on each side, allowing him to peer outside. To his left, where buildings stood closer to the truck than they did on the right, he saw his mother roll off the roof of the truck over the window. He gasped and phased through the wall of the truck to kneel by Maddie's side. "Mom?" he called and carefully shook her shoulder. With no response, he looked up and found Tucker lying on the sidewalk on the other side of a car, and a large hole in one of the buildings that he knew he didn't make. He growled, his eyes turning green. He stood up and turned to Vlad and walked through the truck, changing to Phantom in the process.

"Well, look who's awake." Vlad commented, "Enjoy your nap?"

Danny clenched his fists so tightly his nails would've dug into his palms and the pain in the center of his right hand didn't even matter anymore. Raged filled his body so much, the tension would've made others tense just by looking at him. He took a deep breath, "You coward!" he roared with the ghostly wail.

Vlad stumbled back, not expecting the noise from the seventeen-year-old in front of him.

Danny teleported in front of him and send a plasma-covered punch into Vlad's stomach, "You think this'll accomplish _anything_?" he growled, "Do you think your clones would even _love_ you after they find out that you've _obsessively_ hunted me down to clone me? After they find out the kind of man that you are?"

"Who's to say they'll find out?" Vlad threw a punch, but the ghost boy vanished before his fist could make contact with him.

Danny reappeared behind him and kicked Vlad's back, "They'll find out." He growled, "If he watches the news one day and sees me, he's gonna start asking questions. What then?" he asked furiously, grabbing him by his cape and throwing him against a wall, "Tell him that you killed, and lied, and cheated, and hurt good people just to get a clone? For the perfect son?"

Vlad recovered from the hit, "I didn't kill anyone." He growled.

Danny snarled, his anger intensifying, "No?! What about Hazel!?" he roared, sending out a small sound wave to knock Vlad back slightly, "He was barely breathing by the time you were done with him."

Vlad began laughing, "The boy had a death wish. He hardly even put up a fight."

Danny growled, his eyes turning a solid blue, and a small amount of blue electricity sparking in his hand. He charged forward and threw a punch at Vlad again, only missing due to Vlad's teleportation ability. He turned around, and used the wasted momentum to hit Vlad in the temple with the electric punch.

Vlad fell down to one knee and tried recovering from the hit.

Danny kicked Vlad hard enough to send him up to the sky, then flew up to catch up with him. He caught Vlad and channeled the electric energy into his hands, shocking Vlad with more intensity than before. Vlad now hung limply in Danny's hands.

"Daniel, please-" he glanced down, noticing that his coat was starting to freeze with a visible layer of ice.

"Give me one _good_ reason…" he growled.

Vlad thought for too long before looking back up at Danny in fear.

"And for once, he has nothing to say…" he said and froze the rest of Vlad's body. He gave him one more cold look before glancing at the ground.

He let him fall.

**So… _that_ took a lot longer than expected. I really needed help with this one though. Since I needed help so badly, I let my fiancé and fellow author write the fight scene between Vlad and Maddie. So I'm giving him credit for that, I didn't write that, I just edited that part. The rest was all me though. No Hazel in this chapter, but definitely the next chapter. Sorry if Danny seemed out of character, but the seventeen-year-old Ghost Boy be pissed. Anger, rage, and revenge do things to people. Plus, the kid needed to let loose and a baseball bat to Hazel's face wasn't gonna cut it. Please leave reviews, you guys, I really want to know what you all think about this. Thanks for reading and stay awesome, folks!**


	14. Chapter 14

Danny finally planted both feet on the ground and capped his thermos. He strapped it to his back and took a deep breath, finally realizing how sore he was. He walked over and knelt by Jazz and gently shook her shoulder, "Jazz?"

She groaned and opened her eyes, "Danny!" she hugged him, "I'm so happy you're okay!" she sniffled.

Tucker approached them and rubbed his head, "Did we win?"

Danny showed him the thermos, "Taking this to Clockwork when I'm done here." He helped Jazz to her feet, "Can you go find my dad?" he asked.

Tucker nodded and ran off to find Jack.

"Where's Mom?" Jazz asked, rubbing her back.

Danny walked through the truck and carefully picked up Maddie, taking her to Jazz and carefully laying her down, "We need to call an ambulance…" he said, then paused, "No… two." He looked up at the building that he and Vlad spent the most time fighting near.

"What?" Jazz looked at him with confusion, "Oh…" realization hit, "Where is he?" she asked.

Danny flew up, higher than the holes in the building, and landed on the roof. There, where Danny had left him before, Hazel laid on his back, paler than ever and lifeless. Blood pooled around him, soaking his shirt and jeans and coating the hand that rested on the wound. He knelt by him, "Hazel? Can you hear me?" he asked, "James?" he gently shook his shoulder, then sighed. "You promised to stay awake, remember?" he reminded him, but still got no response. He shook his head and carefully scooped up the bloody teen and carried him down to the ground. There, Bleu and Sam had met with the others, having no luck finding Hazel.

As Danny landed and carefully laid Hazel on the ground, Bleu rushed over, terrified and shaking with Hazel's state. "He's still alive…" Danny said, "Barely."

"I called the ambulances." Jazz said. "They'll be here soon."

Jack approached Danny. Danny froze, unsure with his father's motives. He knew that he saw the Ghost Boy and not his son. Jack smiled widely and hugged him, "I'm so proud of you." He said, "And I'm so sorry…"

Danny hugged him back. "You- you're not mad?" he asked.

"Mad?" Jack looked Danny in the eyes, "Not at _you_. I'm mad at myself for not seeing it before. My son is Phantom and it _never_ occurred to me until Vlad-" he paused, "Where is that son of a bitch?!"

"I got him." Danny showed him the thermos. "I'm taking him to a friend of mine in the Ghost Zone." He said.

Bleu watched the other talk amongst each other or tend to Maddie while she had Hazel resting on her lap. She sighed and looked down at his pale face, brushing his hair back gently and holding him protectively. "You're gonna be okay…" she whispered, checking the side of his neck again for his pulse. She took a deep breath and hugged him a little tighter, but not too tight as to hurt him more.

Danny glanced over and saw how quiet Bleu had gotten and knelt by her and Hazel. He sat down next to her and shared the silence, muting everything else around them as though they were in a bubble where it was just the three. He sighed, "You know- apparently his real name is James…"

Bleu managed a small smile, "Really?" she continued to brush back Hazel's hair, "He never told me…"

"I just found out…" he said silently, "Before he…" he sighed, "Went and fought Vlad…" he looked down.

"Where was he?" she asked, "Sam and I looked everywhere…" she said, "I was so scared we'd never find him. Or… if we did, we'd be too late."

"He wasn't very far from where he hid me. Just a couple blocks from here. I managed to shake off Vlad long enough to move him so he wasn't caught in the crossfire or used against me." he explained. "But he's been bleeding out way too long…" he wiped his eye, "I'm scared that Vlad's killed him…"

She squeezed her eyes shut. "N-No… he'll be okay…" she sniffled, "I-I know he will…"

Danny let out a deep breath, "I hope so…"

She growled, "How are you so okay with this!?" she asked, "Hazel could very well die and you're just-" she flinched as Danny flash with the glowing white rings scanning his body, leaving him human.

"He isn't going to die scared…" his tone hardened, "He told me as I was moving him. He told me that if he dies, then he'd die feeling accomplished. Feel like he was serving some sort of purpose." He said, remembering Hazel's words between coughs and wheezing breaths. He closed his eyes and sighed, "This is my fault…"

Bleu looked over at him, "Wh-why do you say that?"

"Vlad was after me and got Hazel involved…" he said, "Hazel went back out to fight Vlad because he felt like he _owed_ me... for the time he almost killed me." He shook his head. "He never owed me…" he sighed, "I owed him. It never occurred to me that my ghost sense went off _every_ time Hazel was next to me. Yet he _knew_! He never started those fights, I did. I went and attacked a ghost that I never bothered to get to know. He wasn't hurting anyone. He just made people nervous."

"Danny." Bleu said, "Calm down."

Danny grabbed the sides of his head and squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. "I'm a shitty friend…"

"You're not a shitty friend…" Bleu said sternly, "Hazel just-" she was cut off by approaching sirens. Before anything else was done, the paramedics separated her and Hazel, loading him into one of the vehicles. Danny kept one hand rested on Bleu's shoulder and watched the paramedics take Hazel and Maddie. Jack and Jazz got into the ambulance with Maddie to make sure she was okay. Danny told them that he had a few things to take care of and that he would meet them there later. He turned to look at Sam and Tucker. The two teens hugged Danny and Bleu. "What now?" Tucker asked.

"What if Hazel doesn't-"

"He will." Danny said firmly. "There's no point in thinking negatively about all of this. All we can do is look up and think of the good things." He backed away from the group hug, "I'm going to see Clockwork and see if he's willing to keep an eye on him. Maybe he'll send him to Walker, who knows?" he said. "You guys are welcome to come along, if you'd like." He offered.

"We'll go." Sam and Tucker agreed.

"I'm going to make sure Hazel is okay…" Bleu said. "They won't let me to go see him by myself, I'll have to go with my family." She sighed.

"Man…" Tucker sighed, "Kurt would be worried sick…"

"He must be. Last time he saw Hazel was…" Sam thought for a moment.

"When he tried to kill himself." Danny confirmed. He looked at Bleu, "Go ahead and do that. We'll take Vlad to Clockwork and then I'll go… visit Kurt." He looked at Sam and Tucker, "You guys go check on Hazel, too. Go with Bleu."

"But-"

"I'll be fine." He stopped Sam from speaking. "It's Clockwork." He said with confidence, "He's one of the only ghosts I can trust in the Ghost Zone. I won't be in any danger unless I meet someone else on the way."

Sam hugged him. "Be careful."

"I will. I'll text you guys, okay?"

Bleu had started her car and waited until Tucker and Sam were seated before she drove off, leaving Danny standing in the middle of the road alone. He sighed and changed back to Phantom, blinking and allowing his eyes to change to the bright, glowing green he was well known for. He kicked off the ground and flew homeward. He phased through the front door and went straight down to the basement, opening the Ghost Portal. As he stood and stared into the portal, taking in the sight of the swirling vortex in front of him, he remembered the first time he set foot inside the contraption. The energy that hit him all at once and the burns he had to recover from, fortunately only having to recover from them for less than a week. He shuddered, shaking his arm before stepping through the portal and drifting through the Ghost Zone.

His parents knew now… Thanks to Vlad. He was terrified that they had found out, and currently feared losing his parents' trust. He finally found himself at Clockwork's floating tower. "Clockwork?" he called.

The age-shifting ghost turned to him, "Daniel. I'm impressed." He said.

"Why?" he asked, setting his feet on the old, broken tile. "Or… how?"

Clockwork held out his hand, "I know why you're here. Let me take him." He said calmly.

Danny took the thermos off his shoulder and handed it to Clockwork. "But really- how are you impressed?"

"The amount of rage you had…" he started, putting the thermos encasing Vlad on the shelf beside another thermos. The other thermos, Danny noticed, was dented and very beat-up. "The way you handled that situation… I'm personally amazed you didn't kill him." He said, straightening the thermoses to match positions. "Care to tell me why?" he asked, sitting down in an armchair and diving Danny his undivided attention.

Danny thought for a moment. Vlad was falling and only a few feet from hitting the ground and shattering in his frozen case. Danny's eyes had changed, swiftly and emotionlessly, he had taken his thermos and captured Vlad in it, mere inches from the ground. Danny closed his eyes. Then opened them to look up at the dented thermos, unsure as to whether or not he was seeing a face in the damaged metal. "I didn't want to be the kind of person that he is. I didn't want to stoop that low as to kill someone… or be responsible for someone's death." He looked down, "I made a promise to my family, and to my friends that I wouldn't become that. That… monster that…" he looked back over at the thermos.

"I understand…" Clockwork managed a small smile.

"But…" Danny sighed, "Hazel got hurt. He's… really hurt. In fact- he's probably going to die… because of me."

Clockwork held up a hand to stop Danny from continuing. "Not because of you, Daniel. Hazel was involved because Vlad Masters chose to confront him to get to you. He was using Hazel as bait. Hazel getting hurt was _not_ your fault." He said, "And the same applies to his death." He said.

Danny sank, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Sit Daniel, make yourself at home…"

Danny nodded and sat down in an armchair across from Clockwork. He rested his head in his hands, "I should've just taken Hazel to the hospital and ignored Vlad… But… neither of us would've made the hospital in time if he kept attacking…"

"Perhaps…" Clockwork shrugged. He tilted his head and studied Danny for a moment, "Why so upset, Daniel? You should be relieved."

"Relieved!?" Danny stood straight up and snapped, "Hazel is going to die and I couldn't save him!"

Clockwork slightly flinched, "Not now." He said, "Lower your tone, Daniel. You've been so level-headed until now."

"What are you-" Danny growled and grabbed his head, "Haven't _you_ lost someone?!"

"Daniel." Clockwork stood up, his aged body was now starting to grow younger. He placed both hands on Danny's shoulders and gently guided him back down to the armchair Danny had claimed. "You shouldn't be upset." He managed a small smile, "I wouldn't worry about him for another fifty or sixty years."

"What?" Danny looked up at him, "But you said-"

"I never said he was going to die because of this." He shook his head and straightened up, "I'll take Vlad to Walker…" he said, "He should be able to keep Vlad in line. Cloning is…" he shook his head, "Nothing to worry about, Fenton… Go home, take care of your friends and family. Enjoy your life."

"Thanks." Danny sighed in relief.

"Go on." He said.

Danny nodded, "Thank you again." He said and flew off, back out his portal and then closed the portal. He took off, "Now to see Kurt…"

Kurt laid in his cell staring at the ceiling. He was alone, confused and concerned. He hadn't heard from Hazel since his… suicide attempt and he wasn't even sure if Hazel even survived. Granted he had survived worse, but he was still worried. No news wasn't always good news. He saw a flash of white beside him. He flinched and covered his eyes, "Hey look- about my one call-" he managed to make out Danny's shape, "Danny!"

Danny gave him a look, "How'd you know?"

"I'm not as stupid as I seem. You were the one I wanted to call. Is Hazel okay? Where is he? How's his stomach?"

"One question at a time." Danny held up his hands to calm the older man, "He's in the hospital. He's gonna be okay. He's really hurt though…" he said.

"Well- what about his-"

"I'm sure he told you about this Vlad guy that threatened you two, right?"

"Is that the tall, old bastard that put me here?" Kurt asked with rage.

"Yeah- yeah…" Danny hushed him, looking around in hopes that no officers would come around and check on why Kurt was yelling, "Did you know Hazel is a ghost?"

Kurt looked down sadly, "He's had his powers for about five years…" he said, "He… he tried killing himself that night he was hurt."

Danny sank and nodded, "Yeah." He sighed and sat down on the concrete floor in front of Kurt, "Well… After Hazel recovered enough… yesterday morning, actually. He went to go talk to you, I think. Well, when he found out that Vlad turned you in, we ran into each other and got into a fight." He waved his hands, "But I didn't know Hazel was Acid! I didn't think they were related. Well, Acid almost killed me a couple nights prior to all that- the night Hazel got hurt, and I was still mad. So, I attacked him. I thought he was a threat to the public, I was just trying to do my job. I chased him and eventually I got ahead of him and hit him with a bat. He… that's when I found out who he really was. I sent him to spend the night with Bleu. I didn't know how to take it." He explained. "But… I forgave him. We're still friends."

"Good." Kurt sighed, "Hazel need to be around more people like you. He's only ever spent time with me or-"

"I know, I know. And it's one of the reasons I gave him another chance. That and Hazel was always defending himself," He paused and shook his head, "Anyway, after school, he was attacked by Vlad and-"

"What?"

"Kurt- shh!" Danny snapped, "I'm not supposed to be here. Hazel wasn't even allowed to come see you. As I was saying, Hazel's stitches were reopened and he started bleeding again. He came to me barely even able to stand, but it turned out that he was overshadowed by Vlad. He knocked me out and started taking me back to his mansion. Hazel ended up chasing him and somehow got him to let me go. After he hid me, he told me that he wasn't finished and went back out after him. I told him to stay, I tried. He was losing too much blood and was even coughing some up." He said, "He was in bad shape. Eventually, I was able to get out of that room and use my powers again and Vlad found me. Alone. Hazel- I mean… James…" he corrected himself.

Kurt was surprised that Hazel would even tell Danny of his real name. They hadn't used that name since his mother died.

"He was nowhere in sight. After I was able to shake Vlad off me, I found Hazel lying on a car with the roof just about collapsed." He said. "He was in the middle of everything, so I had to move him someplace where he wouldn't get hurt… more than he already was." He sighed, "After fighting Vlad, we had an ambulance come pick him up."

Kurt was silent, "Did you kill Vlad?" he asked.

"No…" Danny shook his head.

"Why?" Kurt growled, "He could've killed my son! My son could-!" he took a deep breath, "My son could die, because of that son of a bitch."

"But he isn't." he said, "I'm friends with a time ghost, he says he's going to be okay. And… I didn't want to stoop down to Vlad's level. I don't want to become the kind of man that he is."

Kurt took this into consideration. "Y-you're right… he closed his eyes and shook his head. Then he laughed, "This is why Hazel should be friends with you and not people like me." He opened his eyes and stared at the concrete flooring, "But he was stuck with a father like me for his whole life." He held his head in his hands, "I'm a shitty parent."

Danny stood up and sat next to Kurt. He tried to think of an argument, but with everything that Hazel had told him, he didn't have any good points to argue with. He decided with sticking to the truth, "Maybe…" he started, "But he loves you anyway." He said, "I've been a shitty friend sometimes, but… my friends still worry about me. Sometimes I wonder why I still have their loyalty." He shrugged, "Hazel doesn't want to lose you like he lost his mom…"

Kurt sniffled, "Maybe if I had traded places with his mother he'd be better off…" he said and shook his head. "I should've been the one to put a bullet in my head… not her…"

Danny sank. He wasn't sure how to respond with that. He sighed, "Could be worse…" he said.

Kurt gave him a harsh look, Dany only stared forward with glowing green eyes, "How can this get worse? I'm in jail, probably going to prison for a long time, and he's in the hospital."

"He could be alone." Danny said. "Bleu is with him right now, making sure he's okay. And Sam and Tucker are too." He continued, "Plus Bleu's family, I think. My sister worries about him. And my parents. We're all here for Hazel."

Kurt smiled, "It was good to trust him with you guys…" he took a deep breath, "At least I know he's okay."

Danny nodded. "I'm going to go see Hazel after this." He paused, "He said his name is really James… Is that true?"

Kurt nodded, "He hasn't gone by that since his mother died. His mom and I argued over his name when he was born, so we decided to keep both names. But… James as a first name and Hazel as his middle name. James Hazel Richards. But when she died, he yelled at me and declared that he was going to start going by Hazel, and not James anymore." He sighed, "He didn't speak to me for a few weeks after that." He said. He took a deep breath, "When you see him, tell him that I love him and I'm happy he's okay. That I'm sorry for… the way he grew up… for everything… I'm proud of him for not being a fuck-up like me…"

**Not the last chapter yet! Please tell me what you think of this you guys! Stay awesome!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Home stretch- putting this back to first-person view.**

My body ached, the room was bright. I squinted as I forced my eyes open. There was a woman standing next to me… another nurse, I had to guess. She was checking the equipment next to me. This was probably the eighth time I had woken up. Bleu and her family had come in to check on me, but I fell asleep on them. They left by the time I woke up again. Sam and Tucker had come too, but… the same. I'd never been so sore in my entire life. No, scratch that- since I got my powers. The nurse looked at me and carefully brushed my hair out of my face, "How are you feeling, sweetie?" she asked.

"Think I need a cigarette…" I caught myself responding.

She gave me a look, "No smoking in the hospital, hon. Aren't you a little too young anyway?"

I forced out a chuckle that made her cringe. It turned into coughing, painfully aggressive coughing. I found it hard to breathe. The nurse put some sort of cloth over my mouth, which only made me panic, so I smacked her hand away.

"James, it's okay, just cough into the tissue." She held the tissue to my face. I took the tissue from her and held it to my face, I caught my breath and stopped coughing.

"Are you okay?" she asked, the heart monitor next to us beeping rapidly.

I took the tissue away from my face and found it spotted with blood. "Heh… I was kidding about the cigarette."

"Good." She said and threw the tissue away into the biohazard waste bin or whatever it was… This was pretty much my first hospital trip, and I had a hard time seeing straight sometimes. "You have another visitor." She said after looking toward the door, "Take it easy, okay?"

I smiled, "Don't I feel special?"

She chuckled, "I'd feel special if the Ghost Boy were coming to visit me too." She said, "I'll leave you two alone."

"Thanks…" Danny's voice said quietly. Not entirely sure if he was quiet to match the hospital atmosphere, or if was self-conscious with the 'Ghost Boy' comment.

I looked at him and watched him sit next to me, "So… what happened? I heard your mom was in here too. I hope you kicked his ass." I asked him.

"That we did." Danny said, "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"An amazing cocktail of sedated, numb, and sore…" I replied.

He gave me a weird look, "How does that work?" he asked.

I thought for a while, my thoughts and consciousness drifting in and out of focus. "The… uh…" I tried focusing, it was starting to get difficult. "I feel everything… but uh…" I kept trying to think, "I don't at the same time. It stings, but it doesn't hurt…" I said, "Does that make any sense?" I asked, my eyes fighting to stay open.

Danny shrugged, "Somehow I've managed to stay out of the hospital for as long as I can remember, so… I guess I'll have to take your word for it." He leaned forward, "Vlad won't bug us for a while. I left him with Clockwork."

That took me a while to process, "Who th' fuck is Clockwork?" I had to ask.

"A friend of mine in the Ghost Zone." He said. "He's a time ghost."

"Sounds pretty cool." I said, just spurting random crap at this point. I realized that everything was starting to feel heavy. I started feeling lightheaded. It really killed my mood, actually.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Not really feeling too good now…" I said, "Do I die here?" I asked.

"No. no, no, no, no." Danny waved his hands rapidly. He then smiled, "Not for a long time…"

According to Danny's time ghost buddy I live a long life. We'll have to see about that… but it made me smile, my eyes were drifting shut, "I'm okay with that…"

"Uh- Hazel, I saw your dad." He added.

My eyes were open again, "Is he okay?" I asked, my eyes fighting to stay open, but sleep was starting to come back.

"Worried about you." He said. His voice was starting to sound distant. "He told me to tell you that he loves you, he's sorry, and that he's proud of you." He said.

I smiled again, now barely awake, "Thanks…"

Everything went black.

I dreamt about my mom that time… before all of the dreams were just black or red, some of them with my ghost half blaming me for everything, but… none of the previous dreams were pleasant. This time, Mom was standing in front of me. At first I didn't recognize her. She was a white glow at first. The back of my neck tingled like crazy. I couldn't stop rubbing it. Apparently she didn't recognize me either- I was Acid. She looked at me in fear at first. Then she squinted, finally understanding who I was.

I woke up from that dream crying. The nurses were worried about me, but they were able to relax after I told them that it was just a dream. That was about three years ago. I was finally able to leave the hospital after a couple of months. My dad remarried- ironically to his probation officer. I don't know how he did it, but whatever, she got him clean and he somehow charmed her into enough dates for them to actually get together, not to mention he got out of prison a _lot_ earlier than he should have. Their wedding was about a year ago. It wasn't that big. It mostly consisted of just her family and my friends. That was an interesting night- Tucker and Jazz ended up dancing together and apparently, now they're dating. Danny's with Sam and I'm with Bleu. Someone had to have seen that coming, otherwise someone needs a slap to the back of the head.

I had to give up smoking. Bleu said it was no better than me trying to commit suicide. So when she caught me on the front porch of her place, she slapped me so hard, I lost the cigarette in the bushes and she almost broke up with me. I had no back-up, so I had no choice. I figured out other ways to deal with my stress anyways… The others still laugh at me.

I graduated high school late. To _nobody's_ surprise. I was so screwed over as far as my education went, that I had to repeat a year.

Maddie was okay. I was told she was in the hospital too. I guess it was just a couple bruised ribs and a dislocated shoulder. They were shocked that Danny never told them about his ghost powers, but they were proud of the things he had taken the responsibility to do. They even started making equipment for him and he explained a few things about ghosts so their equipment would work better. The tablet for example- they were made into goggles. Wait- no that was Tucker's idea. Regardless. They started helping each other out. They go to Danny, Sam and Tucker for advice now. They eventually found out that I was Acid… They captured me and Danny had to tell them to let me go. That was an awkward night- I almost picked up smoking again, but instead I just dropped myself in the ice cold lake. Believe it or not- it worked. I felt a lot better. Of course I needed to punch something too, but… minor details aside. Things worked out for the better in the end. Vlad was being kept under a close watch by some ghost named Skulker- who apparently also hunts Danny. But, whatever, that's their business. I'll only butt in if it gets too serious.

On top of it all, I have a job now. I'm maintenance for the Fentons. I clean up their lab- which is no longer in their basement, but now they have an official office. I make sure the equipment is working and that their RV is running smoothly. Think of me as their mechanic, pretty much. Tucker does their security and programming. Sam is in charge of their designs and helps Danny test the equipment. I managed to raise enough money to rent my own apartment, I learned how to drive and got my own beat-up piece of crap car. And with that- I sign off.

**Okay, okay, the ending could be a lot better- but I didn't have anything else as a good ending, I'm sorry it's so short. If anyone wants to see more, then let me know- Otherwise, I'll start up something else. I have nothing else to say about this except, thank you for reading and to stay awesome. Bye!**


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